The Quest for the Golden Fleece
by PJOBookWorm
Summary: Camp Half-Blood is in danger and Annabeth knows she has to help. But sneaking out of camp with Percy, finding the Golden Fleece, AND saving Grover proves not to be easy, especially with a Cyclops tagging along. The Sea of Monsters in Annabeth's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Ah, finally! The Quest for the Golden Fleece, sequel to The Quest for the Master Bolt. Notice a pattern? Or maybe I'm just too lazy to come up with a good name. Sorry it took so long to put it up! Thanks to everyone who read The Quest for the Master Bolt for coming back to read the second story in Annabeth's point of view. But I bet you don't even remember it. :P Extremely sorry it took sooo long_—more than a year; I know, I know, I'm a horrible procrastinator._ Soo if you are reading this after reading the first one, I can't thank you enough! And if you didn't read the first one, then hello! I'm PJOBookWorm. This time, I'm co-authoring with carameltootsieroll, so the chapters will sadly come slower. But this is our holiday present to you. So happy holidays, everyone! Oh, and if you didn't know, I found out… I can actually reply to reviews! Ah, so sad. How did I not know that before? So, if you're wondering why I never replied to a review before, now you know. Sorry I never replied but now I will!_

_Disclaimer: We do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians characters or series or anything. Shocking, right?_

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 1

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><p>"<em>Ready! On my mark!"<em>

_Shouts rang through the night, accompanied with scattered screams and clangs. The air was cold and still. Feet hit the ground heavily and people darted from shadow to shadow._

"_Fire!"_

_Arrows shot through the air, whizzing like comets, and crashed down, some zapping the grass and some zapping dark figures looming the grounds._

_Deep growls erupted from the figures' throats and vibrated through the air. Heavy stomps shook the ground._

"_Retreat!"_

_The people backed up, their orange t-shirts shining brightly through the dark, emitting a flame of hope among the horrified campers. Despite their scared looks, the campers stood firmly on the ground, drawing their weapons._

_The stomps crushed the grass and monstrous shadows drew near. Arrows screamed as they rocketed through the air, plummeting towards the monster. The monster just growled and with one swat of its meaty hand, knocked the arrows away._

_The monster advanced on the campers, and they backed away, their screams echoing through the night._

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My feet pounded down on the ground, crunching leaves and snapping sticks as I ran. My ponytail came loose and my blonde hair flew around. The sun slowly sank, hiding behind the trees, and the moon leapt up into the sky, casting shadows in the dark forest. I glanced behind me, and, seeing nothing, slowed down to a stop to rest. But only for a few seconds. Otherwise, the monsters would catch up.

And to think this all started when I had that dream. Even before I woke up, I knew. Camp Half-Blood was in danger.

I closed my eyes, replaying my dream in my head. The monsters. The screams. It was bad. _Really bad_. How much time was there left? How much faster did I have to run? How—

Suddenly, I heard the crackling of leaves. I leapt up and glanced around the dark forest warily. It had to be another monster. With a snarl, a hideous creature jumped out at me, and I took a step back, drawing my knife and glaring at the monster. Its clawed fingers snatched the air around me and its scaly tail whipped back and forth.

Where was my baseball cap? I looked around frantically and saw that the cap my mom had given to me for my birthday was lying traitorously on the ground three yards away from me. It must have fallen off when I was running. Great. Now I didn't have my invisibility cap. Keeping my eyes on the monster, I slowly inched towards where my cap had fallen.

But the monster seemed to have other ideas. "Now, where do you think you're going?" it cackled. "Surely not to camp." With a mad look in its eyes, it swung its tail out and knocked me to the ground. It reached out to claw me, but my reflexes made me back away and the monster ended up clawing my jeans.

Leaping up, I stuck out my knife and charged the monster. I stabbed the knife onto the hand that was coming out to claw me again. The monster wailed, and its tail whipped out and knocked me over to the ground, resulting in my cutting my chin in the process. I silently cursed myself for being so careless about my cap. The monster was now towering over me with a wicked grin on its face.

"Interesting," it hissed, "a daughter of Athena?" It licked its lips. "I haven't eaten one in a long time..."

"And you're not about to," I shot back. The gears in my head turned and I remembered the monster's weakness. Like others of its kind, its weakness was a little spot inside its left ear. I threw my knife at the monster. It worked. The blade jabbed right into the ear.

The monster howled in pain and clutched its ear. While it was preoccupied, I quickly ran for my cap and jammed it on my head, turning invisible. Meanwhile, the monster yanked the knife out of its ear and threw it on the ground like it was an omen. It turned around, hissing.

"Oh, demigod. Don't try to hide. I can smell you. I know you're here."

Normally, I would have fought back against the monster, but I was in a big hurry. I picked up my knife, stuck it in my pocket, and took off running again, choosing not to look back.

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The sun blinded my eyes and I squinted, raising my hand to shield my eyes. As I walked down the streets invisibly, avoiding bumping into people, I looked to my left, and then ducked behind a building when my eyes landed on something. Not another monster. Why were there so many? There shouldn't be _that _many monsters. I was a daughter of Athena, and while she definitely wasn't as non-threatening as Aphrodite, she wasn't so big and mighty that monsters wanted me dead. I needed to get to Camp Half-Blood soon, and the monsters were only slowing me down.

What's Camp Half-Blood? Let me explain. I'm Annabeth Chase, a half-blood, or demigod: half-human, half-god. And Camp Half-Blood is a camp for those like me. It is the only place where half-bloods are safe and can avoid being attacked by monsters. Why? Because it has a magical boundary: Thalia's pine tree. It permits only demigods through the boundary to camp, besides the counselors, or when someone inside gave another permission to enter.

I'd been at camp longer than any other camper, even the ones older than me. I had almost always stayed at camp year-round since I was seven. For this school year, instead of staying at camp, I was staying at my dad's house for the first time since what seemed like forever. My parents were now treating me… nicely, caring for me, protecting me. We hadn't exactly gotten along before, especially because of my stepmom, who treated me like a freak, demigod that I am. In fact, that's why I ran away from home when I was seven. I camped out on my own, kind of like what I was doing now, but with much less experience and no weapons. So when Thalia and Luke, also two half-bloods, found me, they, along with Grover, a satyr protecting them, took me in and helped me get to Camp Half-Blood, where they were also going.

Thalia and Luke were so nice and caring. They looked after me. They weren't just my friends; they were my family. And not like my family with my dad and stepmom and stepbrothers. They didn't freak out about monsters; they fought them. They taught me techniques for fighting and Luke even gave me a knife to fight with. They were my idols.

But sadly, both Thalia and Luke were gone now, though Grover stayed my friend. Currently, he was searching for Pan, as all satyrs did, but we hadn't heard from him in a long time and we were becoming pretty worried.

Luke. I thought he was my friend. I thought he was—but it didn't matter any more. I used to admire him, but he turned to the dark side, and I was letting go of all that respect I ever had for him.

And Thalia... As Thalia, Luke, Grover, and I made our way to camp, we had to avoid the monsters that were out to kill us. One day, we were so close to Camp Half-Blood that I could see it with my own eyes, but the monsters caught up. Then Thalia, the brave one, my best friend, stayed behind to fight the monsters and let us go on to safety. She did well, but she wasn't trained enough. Before Thalia completely faded away from us, her father, Zeus, saved her and turned her into the pine tree that now protects the camp's border. It was supposed to prevent the monsters from entering camp.

So that's why I had panicked when I had laid down in bed one night and closed my eyes, only to be greeted with visions of frightened campers, some screaming, some drawing swords and charging. And the thing that disturbed me the most was what they were charging at: monsters. How could monsters get into camp? The boundary provided against that. That's when I knew camp was in trouble. I had to get there and help as soon as possible.

I packed my backpack and told my family my plan, but my parents disagreed with my idea, saying it was too dangerous. They said if I dreamed about camp being in trouble, then I shouldn't go back there. Of course, they began caring about my safety at camp when I had to go back there the most. Frustrated and annoyed, I waited until night fell before leaving a note for my parents, then running out into the open.

It was dangerous, I knew. Going out into the open alone was like stepping outside with a flashing neon sign, saying, "Over here, monsters!" But at least it wasn't as bad as some other half-bloods had it. Take my friend, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. He can attract monsters wherever he went. Why? He's a son of one of The Big Three and therefore more powerful than most half-bloods.

Speaking of Percy, he was exactly the person I needed to see. An hour after I had left home, I remembered Percy, all the way up in New York. I had to alert Percy about going to camp. Besides, I needed backup. And, I hated to admit it, but Percy was good at fighting. I knew because last summer, I, along with Grover, went with Percy on a quest to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt. Percy could fight well, but some other choices he made were pretty stupid, which was why he needed Grover and me to come along with him.

Since I had been on the run, monsters kept popping up everywhere. I could mostly avoid them with my cap, but some monsters have a more developed sense of smell than others and were able to sniff me out and know my general direction. What was weird was that during the school year, I had almost no monsters finding me at my home. Instead, they were gone. Somewhere else. And I knew, most of them had to be at camp.

All this brought me back to here, where I was currently leaning close to a wall and keeping on eye on the monster.

The monster was ambling around now, sniffing the air for my aura, but the mortals didn't notice the huge, towering monster and just kept walking, the mist blinding them. My eyes on the monster, I silently sped down the alley, behind the building, and ran down the block.

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Was this the right place? New York, check. East One-hundred-and-fourth and First, check. Apartment, check. Fifth floor, check. Oh, and there was the fire escape outside Percy's bedroom. Found him!

Before you say I'm a stalker, I'm not. I just have really good memory, and Percy told me where he lived once in case of an emergency. And I had to say, this was an emergency, all right.

I hurriedly climbed up to Percy's bedroom window. Sure enough, inside the room was a boy with dark hair, sleeping. It felt a little weird to see him after all this time, and certainly weirder to have to look at him through his window. I studied Percy, taking in his messy black hair and remembering his sea-green eyes. But then I realized he had a pained look on his face and was tossing and turning in his bed. Was he dreaming about camp, too?

Then, with a gasp, Percy woke and bolted straight up with a panicked look in his green eyes. He looked at the window and right at me. Did he see me? I looked down; my invisibility cap was working. Thank the gods. If it weren't, the people walking on the street below probably would have called the police, thinking I was going to break in. And Percy would have freaked out.

But before I could figure out a way to talk to Percy without giving him a heart attack, I heard his mom's voice, muffled because of the window, call, "Percy, you're going to be late."

Styx. There was no way I was going to watch Percy change. I decided now wasn't the best time to talk with Percy and climbed back down.

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Closing my eyes, I leaned against the door of the brownstone building that was across the street from Percy's apartment. I had never really gotten a good night's sleep since I had been on the run to get to camp. Just for future reference: bumpy grounds filled with sticks and rocks, plus trying to get to a destination as soon as possible were major obstacles for sleep.

And to think, if I hadn't closed my eyes for those few ten seconds, if I had closed them ten seconds earlier, the day would have been much easier.

But I had kept my eyes closed for too long. When I opened them, there was Percy, standing across the street and staring in my direction. I gave a sigh of relief and started making me way over to him_—_I couldn't take off my invisibility cap in case anyone else was watching_—_but Percy turned around and jogged away in the other direction.

"Percy!" I called after him, but he didn't hear me_—_though a woman walking her dog did. Looking bewildered, the woman sped up walking.

I had no choice to but to follow him. Where was he going? As he kept walking down the street, the throng of people grew thicker and thicker. I pushed through the people walking on the streets and kept my eyes on Percy. Finally, I realized where he was headed: the train station. Then school. Great.

Why was everything going wrong for me today? It was so unlike me to not have everything planned out so carefully. Maybe it was because I had left in a hurry, or I had been in a hurry to even get here and had to evade monsters at the same time. But whatever the reason was, it was costing me.

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><p><em>AN: And that's officially the end of the first chapter! We hope you all enjoyed it! And reviews are always welcome_—a holiday present to us? ;) Have a happy holiday everyone! How do you guys spend your holidays? And please come back to read the next chapter!__


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: __PJOBookWorm: Here's the second chapter! I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to review! It really does mean a lot to us and we really appreciate it. :D Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Noowww take it away carameltootsieroll!_

_carameltootsieroll: Yaaay! Hey guys, so this is the second chapter of our co-authored fanfic! This is honestly really exciting for me as currently, I have no other stories posted on my account! Yeah, but the good thing is, I'm really happy that I got to work with PJOBookworm, who is an amazing writer by the way! So I won't delay you guys any longer, here's Chapter 2!_

_Disclaimer: We don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians._

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 2

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><p>Meriwether College Prep. That was the name of Percy's school, though I had to question it. It was misleading. The school didn't help prepare students for college at all. Meriwether was a progressive school, so instead of desks, there were <em>bean bags, <em>and the students _didn't even get grades!_ I was sure Athena would be repulsed.

Percy's English class was reading Lord of the Flies by William Goldling, which was a book about a group of kids who were marooned on an island and went crazy. It was a good book to teach, but not quite the way Percy's teachers were teaching it. I thought the teachers would talk to their students about the symbolism of the conch shell, or even analyze some other images and figurative language. Gods, was I off.

The teachers got this bright idea that for the final exam, they would send the students out into the break yard without any adult supervision. What would happen? I guessed it was the whole "Hands-On Experiment" that people said helped kids learn better since they'd be able to apply it to their own lives (apparently, kids these days "only think about themselves"). However, I was pretty sure this wasn't the kind of experiment the experts were talking about. Especially when I got a better look of Percy's classmates.

I easily pinpointed the class bully and his followers. He wasn't bigger than his followers—or stronger for that matter—but he definitely acted like he was. He gave off an air of arrogance and violence, and also a bit of stupidity. His followers were all bigger and stronger than him, and they followed him around and did whatever he did. It made me wonder: if the followers were so much stronger than the bully, why didn't they just beat him up and stop obeying his every command? It was probably because the bully had a ton of money and his followers got shares of it.

There were fights and wedgies spreading around the playground, and the bully was the ringleader of all of them. Looking around for Percy, I spied him near the jungle gym with an extremely tall boy. The boy had to be at least six feet. He had a scary and tough look to him, completed with crooked teeth. When I tried to study him further, I found it hard to look at his eyes and knew there was something off about him. But now wasn't the right time to dwell on the oddities of Percy's friend; I'd already lost a lot of time having to follow Percy to his school instead of catching him before he left his apartment.

While making my way towards Percy, I tried to think of a way to get rid of his friend so I could talk to Percy alone. But the bully got to Percy first.

I easily saw that Percy's friend wasn't popular, and by being his friend, Percy was put at the same level as him. I also saw that students enjoyed picking on Percy's friend. That was what the bully was doing—or trying to, anyway.

Percy's friend was actually defending himself, which was good for him since all the other kids the bully picked on had just burst into tears. The bully tried to give Percy's friend a wedgie, but Percy's friend panicked and swatted the bully away with super human strength. Instead of stumbling back a little, the bully ended up flying back fifteen feet in the air and became tangled up in the tire swing.

I blinked. _What _just happened? I glanced over Percy's friend again. I _knew _there had to be something off about him. Nobody, not even a demigod child of Zeus, could swat someone away that hard.

"You freak!" the bully yelled, angered as he tried to untangle himself. But through the bully's tough façade, I could see in his eyes that he was a bit freaked out over having flown through the air. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box?"

I didn't know what that meant, but I guessed it was an insult because Percy's friend started sobbing. Sitting down on the jungle gym, he buried his head in his hands...and made a dent on the bar.

Wait, what? He made a _dent. _He was strong enough to… I blinked, then stared at Percy's friend and the dented bar. I stepped back and rewound everything I had just witnessed, playing through the major details in my mind. Percy's friend… strong… abnormally tall… something off… he must live in a cardboard box… oh, gods, no… Slowly, the gears in my brain turned. The puzzle pieces finally fit together, and it all made sense to me. Percy's friend wasn't just any regular person. Zeus, forbid, he was…

"Take it back, Sloan!" Percy shouted.

Cringing and narrowing my eyes, I slowly looked over Percy's friend again—truly looked at him this time, with analyzing and hesitant eyes. Something was blocking his face: mist. If there was mist, it meant he was definitely involved with our type. I blinked and stared at him… and then I saw it… his eye. My eyes widened and I stepped back, suddenly feeling nauseous.

Sloan just sneered. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have friends if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."

Percy's fists balled. "He's not a freak. He's just…"

…A Cyclops.

I felt sick just thinking about it. I mean, I had had some really bad experiences with Cyclopes. Specifically, experiences that included near-death situations. I stared at Percy, then at the Cyclops, then back at Percy. Why was Percy friends with a _Cyclops_?

Sloan and his corpulent minion friends were too busy laughing to notice that Percy couldn't find a word to describe his own friend. "Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called out tauntingly. "You are so dead."

And with that cliché departing sentence, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. A middle-aged teacher came out to look at the mess made on the playground. I tried again to call Percy's attention, but it didn't work. I couldn't get close while a teacher was around. Not even with my invisibility cap on. And there was _no_ way I was getting near that Cyclops.

"You understood Lord of the Flies perfectly!" the teacher gushed, looking extremely proud, as if his students had invented a working time machine and made him a millionaire. "You all passed my course. Congratulations to all of you! And remember: never, ever, ever grow up to be violent people. But with you kids, I doubt that'll be a problem."

Really, such good students they were, very hard working and dedicated to learning. I was so sure _no one_ in the class would grow up to be violent.

Gods, how dense was this teacher?

Sloan nodded like an innocent kid, then turned and grinned at Percy, revealing a set of chipped-teeth, almost making me want to punch him and his annoyingly smug grin.

The playground emptied out as people headed to their next class. Percy was still standing next to the Cyclops, trying to comfort him as tears kept streaming down the Cyclops' face.

"I…I am a freak?" the Cyclops asked Percy.

I restrained myself from running over to the Cyclops and shouting, "YES!" right at his face. It wouldn't do any good; it wouldn't change my previous experiences with Cyclopes and make everything horrible that happened fade away no matter how much I hoped. Besides, I did not want a Cyclops to know I was here and about my plans.

Anger flamed in Percy's eyes. Looking furious, he clenched his hands. "No," he said firmly. "Matt Sloan is the freak."

Percy's friend sniffed. "You are a good friend. Miss you next year if… if I can't…" He broke off, his voice trembling.

"Don't worry, big guy," Percy said, looking pretty worried himself. "Everything's going to be fine."

_Everything's going to be fine? _There was huge trouble at camp that was endangering the campers. _I don't think so, Percy._

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After I found out Percy's friend was a Cyclops, I subconsciously distanced myself more from Percy, not wanting to come near the Cyclops. But I still followed him, knowing I needed to take Percy to camp with me. I was determined to get to Percy alone. But as it turned out, getting to Percy while he was alone wasn't too easy. Especially with that Cyclops following him around.

I lost Percy after his English class and spent some time wandering around the halls. As I walked down the halls, I looked at the bright, kiddy posters plastered on the walls and raised my eyebrows. The posters weren't even about learning, nor were they related to education in any way! Really, what kind of school _was_ this? At the end of the hall, I stopped to peer through a window into a classroom. Inside, I saw kids lounging on their bean bags, some even sleeping, as the teacher, wearing a shirt from a rock concert, sat on a stool in the front of the room and _texted._

What. The. Hades.

I continued through the school, shaking my head dumbly.

Finally, I spotted a group of kids standing along the hallway of the science lab. Two people, a tall guy and a dark-haired boy, were leaning against the wall near the door. I inched forward, still wearing my invisibility cap, of course.

Smoke—bright orange smoke—was coming out from inside the science lab, and a bunch of hazardous waste removal people was hurrying in and out of the room. The members shouted to each other, "Code Yellow! Code Yellow! Brace yourselves!" The scene was weird enough, but the weirder thing was that the teacher was praising Percy and the Cyclops.

"Congratulations, you two!" the teacher squealed. "You kids have a future in the chemistry business. You're natural chemists! You know, you're the first ones to ever ace my exam in less than thirty seconds."  
>Percy just stood there, smirking and looking satisfied with himself.<p>

I frowned. Seriously, now. _I _was a daughter of Athena and I couldn't even ace a science lab exam in less than thirty seconds. What did _Percy _do? What was even the exam? How did acing an exam equal having to call the hazardous waste removal squad?  
>But I was soon distracted from my thoughts when the group of students started running down the hall to their next class. I quickly scrambled to the sides. Invisible or not, I was still vulnerable to being stepped on by seventh graders.<p>

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Percy's next class was social studies. I silently prayed that he would finally be alone in the corridor, but I guessed today just wasn't my day. He zoomed straight from science to social studies, not bothering to stop to do anything, like tie his shoelace—which _was_ loose, by the way.

As soon as Percy took his seat, I made a move to get to him, but I was too slow. The teacher arrived and asked the students to bring out their notebooks, saying they were going to learn about longitude and latitude.

I cursed silently and dropped into an unoccupied bean bag at the far end of the room, slouching down, restraining myself from suddenly getting up and dragging Percy out of the room. In my bad mood, though, the bean bag was actually pretty comfortable and did help placate me a little.

From my place in the room, I could see the distraught expression Percy was wearing on his face. He seemed troubled, and for a second, I wondered if he had the same nightmare as I had, too… Didn't he seem to be having a nightmare when I peeked in his bedroom window this morning?

Percy opened his notebook and I spotted a colored picture inside of it. He stared at the picture for a while with a small, sad smile on his face. I got a funny feeling about that photo, like it should be familiar, but I tried not to mind it. He was just about to close his notebook when Sloan, the bully, reached over and ripped the photo out.

"Hey!" Percy protested.

The bully studied the picture and his eyes growing as big as saucers. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is _not _your—"

A girl was in the picture? Was that…?

"Give it back!" Percy cried, his face becoming as red as a tomato.

Sloan ignored Percy and passed the picture around to his weird friends. They had on the nametags visitors got, and on the tags they wrote names like MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human being would name their kid that. If Sloan's minions thought it was funny to do pranks like that, they had no sense of humor. Seriously, they should meet the Stoll brothers.

Sloan's friends snickered, too, as they glanced at the picture, and my funny feeling about the photo grew stronger.

Okay, maybe I knew who was in that photo. I stood up and made my way to Percy's seat. My eyes widened as I stared at the picture, shocked at being proven right. Sure enough, the girl in the picture was blond-haired and gray-eyed, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, her arms crossed, a small proud smile on her face. Oh my gods.

I seriously felt like dying right on the spot, invisible or not. Percy kept a picture of me in his notebook? I had sent him the pictures a few weeks back, but I hadn't expected him to print it out and stick it in his social studies notebook! I sent that picture of me to, well, keep in touch, but also to show him that I definitely could be an architect and design memorials and structures as great as the Lincoln Memorial. I almost wanted to smack Percy on the head for printing it out and putting it in his notebook where anyone could find it. Thank the gods I was invisible. My cheeks were burning and I knew I must have turned a very undignified shade of red. It was like last year on the Tunnel of Love all over again.

Sloan's friends began tearing up the picture of me, and my eyes narrowed into slits as I glared at them. Even though I wasn't exactly floating and thrilled with Percy's keeping a picture of me in his binder, how could I not get offended by someone ripping up my picture? Real smart of them. I almost ran up and hit them with their textbooks.

"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged to Percy, as if expecting Seaweed Brain to run screaming from the classroom as soon as he heard the news…which would actually be pretty helpful for me. "I bet they can _pay _the tuition too, unlike your retard friend."

"He's _not _retarded!" Percy replied angrily, subconsciously clenching his fist and raising it up.

"You're such a loser, Jackson," Sloan sneered. "Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."

Sloan's minions finished tearing up the photo, leaving the remains on the floor and using the other remains to chew and make spit wads. I glared at them. That nerve! I couldn't believe they actually ripped up my picture and chewed it right in front of me. (…Well, it wasn't like they knew I was there, but it's still the same.)

The bell rang and the students filed out of the classroom. As I made my way towards Percy and his Cyclops friend, I was having doubts over whether or not to talk to Percy while the Cyclops was around. For all I knew, the Cyclops could pounce on me and chew me to bits. I mean, Cyclops _were _monsters.

(So maybe I was overacting and over-exaggerating with the "chew me to bits" part. But you couldn't blame me.)

But I decided against it. I had to talk to Percy, Cyclops or no Cyclops. Cyclopes weren't smart monsters, anyway, and all of the rest of the class had already almost left. Just as Percy and the Cyclops started for the door, I whispered, "Percy!"

For a second, I thought I had him. His face looked shocked, and he turned around towards the direction of my voice. I was about to call out for him again and reach out to pull him aside, but he seemed to have lost his interest in finding invisible people and turned away, a throng of kids filling the space between us in the hallway and running away.

I silently cursed, putting my hands to my face. Gods, I was _so_ close.

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><p><em>AN: __carameltoosieroll: I hope you guys liked it! Please do review, it will make our day. And I will try to personally thank all the people who reviewed through PM. Haha, thanks guys, and I hope you guys press that review button! And do come back for the next chapter…chapter three!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: __carameltootsieroll: Hi guys! Thanks for all those wonderful reviews! We really love reviews cause they show what people think of our work, and we love feedback! Thanks so much guys! Keep reading and reviewing! :)_

_PJOBookWorm: Sorry for the late update! Thank you guys again and again for reviewing and faving this story! It really means a lot to have support and know that you guys like this story! Here's one request to ask of you when you read this chapter: can you please pretend, even though it's not realistic, that you really _can _make rainbows that way? (You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there.) I really don't know if it's possible to make rainbows that way, but can you please pretend the whole thing is plausible? *begging*_

_Disclaimer: We do not own PJO._

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 3

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><p>Were there <em>no <em>girls in this gym class? How sexist! I rolled my eyes. What, were girls "not strong or coordinated enough" to play dodgeball? I'd have you know, a ton of girls at camp were way better at Capture the Flag than Seaweed Brain was, and they could easily brain him in the sword arena. Just look at the Ares kids.

I walked around the gym that Percy's boys-only class was filing into. But they weren't stopping inside the gym, and I followed Percy and the Cyclops as they walked to the other end. When I got closer to the door they were headed towards, I stopped.

Oh, gods, they were going to the locker room. I reddened and turned around so quickly that I was surprised I didn't trip. I had already looked into Percy's bedroom; I did not need to look in the locker room, too.

"Come on, Tyson," Percy said to the Cyclops as he pulled open the door.

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to contact Percy during the dodgeball game with all the balls that were soon to be flying around the room, plus the annoying Cyclops that wouldn't leave Percy's side, especially during a dodgeball game, I wandered around the gym, looking for the girl's locker room. As I explored the gym more, I furrowed my eyebrows at the lack of more doors appearing. Seriously, wasn't there a girls' locker room? Just how sexist was this school? Maybe I should tell Athena and she would do something about it.

By now, all the guys in Percy's gym class were dressed in their gym uniforms (and the most ridiculous ones, might I add) and crowding around the coach, who resembled someone I couldn't quite place. The locker room door was closed, and I glanced at it before crossing over the gym to the door, an idea in my head. Maybe it was a bit reckless, and it wasn't like I _wanted_ to go inside, but I had to—for the sake of camp.

As I slowly yanked the door open, I heard Sloan say, "Coach, can I be captain?" Sorry, Percy.

I let the door close quietly behind me before I turned around, bracing myself for the worst. The worst was what I got. It was disgusting in the locker room. It stunk like a hundred skunks personally came in and sprayed every corner of the room. Clothes were thrown onto the ground and benches even though there were lockers—most of them whose doors were flung wide open, dirt crusted on the insides. I swore I even saw some green gas floating up from the clothes and spreading throughout the room—or maybe the smell was stinging my eyes and making them teary and hallucinating.

I didn't care if the students saw the door to the locker room suddenly open from an invisible force; I had to get clean air circulating in the locker room. Cautiously, I opened the door a crack and peeked out into the gym. With their backs thankfully facing the door, they were "picking" out teams, but all the tough jocks were automatically moving to Sloan's side while Percy's side was consisting of scrawny, scared-looking kids.

I grew annoyed at Sloan's tactics but turned around to face the lockers again, a mission in mind. If Percy could tough out the climbing wall at camp, not to mention the quest we went on last summer, he could tough out a game of dodgeball, couldn't he? Besides, judging from the look on Percy's face, this kind of division of teams happened a lot.

So I scanned the locker room again. Cringing, I made my way through the room, holding my breath. I came to the back of the lockers and hoped I would find what I was looking for. Sure enough, there was a small path leading further back into the room and twisting towards the shower room. I quickly ran down the hall and towards the door with a sign labeled "SHOWERS".

As I took of my invisibility cap, I closed the door behind me and turned to size up the shower room. It was in a little better condition than the locker room, but the showers were run-down and abandoned. It looked like no one had used the showers in a long time, which would explain the horrible stench. And was that mold growing on the shower handle?

I grimaced and reached over to a shower, turning on the water and praying to the gods my plan would work. The water slowly dribbled on—and I _did_ mean dribble. Water was coming out from the showerhead at a snail's pace. The drops splattered onto the ground and echoed through the room. I waited, hoping that more water would add on to the measly amount that was coming out right now, but not much did.

Groaning, I dug a flashlight and drachma out of my backpack, praying that this would work despite the odds. I turned on the flashlight and waved it at the falling water, but no rainbow appeared. Oh well. I sighed. "O goddess, accept my offering!" I cried, praying with all my might it would work. I tossed the drachma at the water and held my breath. But the drachma just clanked to the ground as if taunting me, and I groaned again.

I turned off the water and quickly picked up the drachma, moving over to the next shower stall and shaking the drachma to get the water off. The next showerhead sprayed out more water than the first one, but still not that much, and I took a deep breath, shining my flashlight at the water and crying, "O goddess, accept my offering!" There obviously had to be a rainbow in the water even though I couldn't see it… a small rainbow, at least… I threw the drachma into the spraying water and it disappeared in a golden shimmer.

I cheered, grateful that the offering had gone through and there had in fact been a rainbow. "Chiron at Camp Half-Blood!"

But when the water shimmered into a view of Camp Half-Blood, I immediately knew something was wrong. The picture was grainy and there were gaping holes in the picture, filled in with the wall of the shower room. The color was dull and there was a lot of static. I cursed, realizing the rainbow wasn't strong enough for a signal.

A picture of Chiron's office began to form from what I could decipher, and I heard a loud slam of a door. I brightened, thinking the signal was getting better. But as I called out, "Chiron!", the whole picture dissolved and faded, leaving me standing, open-mouthed, in front of normal water spraying from the shower head.

"Come on!" I moaned. I wanted to contact Chiron and ask him how camp was faring, and even tell him about my plan to get to camp, although Chiron most likely wouldn't like it. It was just comforting to know that he knew what I was doing and could give me advice. Besides, I was having a pretty bad day, and Chiron somehow always knew how to help.

Seething, I dug another drachma out of my bag and forcefully cried out once again, "O goddess, accept my offering!" I threw the drachma into the spraying water. It sunk into the water, and I called, "Chiron at Camp Half-Blood!"

The picture started forming again, but the quality was as bad as the last Iris message. Holding my breath, I prayed for the best, and Chiron's office began forming and shimmering once again; this time, I could hear the faint sound of Chiron's (not very good) 1960's music. But as the scratchy picture started to focus a bit, I realized something was off. Before I could call out Chiron's name, the picture faded again and I was stuck staring at the shower.

Stomping my foot, I cried out in frustration. After turning off that shower's water, I moved over to the next shower and jerked on the water, muttering under my breath. The water splashed on, still bad quality for a rainbow, but it was all I could get.

I shined my flashlight, shouted, "O goddess, accept my offering!" and threw in the drachma, watching it dissolve in the water. "Camp Half-Blood!"

As the water shimmered, I realized I had forgotten to say Chiron's name and panicked, wondering whom I was going to get. Hopefully not someone from the Ares cabin. The water shimmered and gained color, gradually forming a picture, and I squinted my eyes, trying to decipher it. I heard many loud explosions and several screams, and I grew even more panicked, remembering my dream about camp.

The picture developed some more, and I could make out figures moving. Then I caught my breath, realizing what the figures were: monsters. Horrible, big monsters, and they were at camp. Just like my dream. My heart sunk. What was going on? I saw some campers holding weapons and shouting orders to each other before fighting the monsters. Suddenly, a monster lashed out and two campers cried, falling to the ground. The campers scattered, then tried to charge the monster, but it avoided them easily and swatted them down. Screams, thumps, and even explosions sounded in the background.

"You guys!" I called out, worried, my heart racing, knowing I had to get there and help, but the darn Iris message decided to take that exact time to break off its weak signal and fade from the picture.

Great, something was wrong at camp, but I was stuck here, at Percy's school, with an unresponsive Percy, a Cyclops stalker, and a heavy heart. Camp was my only home. My only _real _home where I could truly be myself. And now I was going to lose it.

I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing heavily, replaying the images of the Iris message. This was more serious than I had thought from my dream. I had to get back there as soon as possible to help protect camp. There was much less time to get Percy than I had thought.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion that made my ears ring and the walls shake. I jumped back, shocked, and slammed my invisibility cap onto my head, opening the door and running back towards the locker room. Why was there an explosion at the school? What was happening? In the locker room, I was met with a gigantic gaping hole in place of the door and wall, and a ton of smelly objects flooding out of the hole. I was so grateful that I was in the shower room and hadn't left two minutes earlier in frustration. But still… What great explosion had caused that?

Then it dawned on me: the slam of the door, the explosions, the screams—they weren't going on in camp. They were going on here. How could I not have realized that? I immediately smacked my hand to my head, chastising myself for being so stupid.

With my heart pounding like crazy, I pushed my way through the huge pile of disgusting clothes and ran out into the gym. What I saw struck me speechless. Kids were screaming and scampering all over the gym. Dodge balls were being flung everywhere, but they were_ flaming. _No. Monsters—except for that horrible Cyclops—couldn't be at this school.

But as I scanned around the gym more, I realized with a sunken heart that there were indeed monsters in the gym. And not like the ones I had encountered during my run to New York. No, they were worse. I had no idea what they were doing here, but there was no time to waste thinking over that.

The monsters were giant, even taller than that Cyclops, at least eight feet tall. Their evil, malicious eyes were glaring at the kids and they clashed their carnivorous sharp teeth. Their hands were throwing the flaming dodge balls with incredible speed and accuracy, and with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I realized just exactly what the monsters were: Laistrygonians.

My heart pounded wildly in my chest like a drum as my eyes widened with fear. Laistrygonians were a tribe of giant cannibals that lived far up north. When Odysseus went to Ithaca, he ran into the Laistrygonians and Antiphates, the king of the Laistrygonians, who immediately killed one of Odysseus' crew members. While the members tried to escape, the Laistrygonians tried to stop them by throwing rocks at the ships, sinking them and killing the men. Odysseus survived and left on his single ship, the surviving crew leaving to the island of Circe.

Laistrygonians were dangerous, ruthless cannibals. Why were they even this far south?

I scanned the gym, searching for Percy, knowing that he was the center of the Laistrygonians' attacks. But instead, I saw a Laistrygonian picking up a flaming dodgeball and advancing on the Cyclops. Why was it aiming at Tyson? Cyclopes were immune to fire, plus they were extremely strong.

But currently, Tyson was lying winded on the ground, and Percy yelled, "Stop! It's me you want!"

The Laistrygonian smirked malevolently and said, "You wish to die first, young hero?"

Realizing that Percy was risking his life to save that Cyclops, I started towards that side of the gym, cursing Percy's loyalty for his friends. He didn't need to protect that Cyclops.

Percy had a look on his face like he was deep in thought. I knew that he was thinking of a really crazy plan, and his plans usually involved a lot of improvising. He could not do that right now. The Laistrygonian was advancing on him as he tried to form his plan. And when it was one of his crazy plans, this was usually the part when I, Annabeth Chase, came to rescue him.

I sprinted towards them with my knife stuck out in front, and Percy started charging, too. I heard the monster laugh and say, "My lunch approaches." I saw the monster raise the dodgeball. I saw Percy stiffen. I took in one deep breath and leapt forward, sticking the knife through the Laistrygonian's back.

The Laistrygonian went as rigid as a board and the ball fell out of his hand. He muttered, "Ow", then caught in a green flame and disintegrated. I glared at the Laistrygonian, in a horribly bad mood, remembering the Iris message with camp and the urgency to get there. I didn't care anymore about that Cyclops or anyone seeing me, and as I took of my cap and stuffed it in my pocket, I hoped just in case that nobody was watching and was too busy screaming for their leaves.

I stared at Percy, who was looking at me, with his dumbfounded sea-green eyes. Then I realized someone else had seen me.

Sloan, the bully, stared at me as if I were a ghost that had come back to life. He blinked. "That's the girl… That's the girl—"

I glared at Sloan, recognizing all the torture he had put Percy and the other students through. I felt my anger bubbling up inside of me, and I remembered that he had ripped up the picture of me to shreds. My anger welled, and add that to the top of my bad day, and viola! You've got a recipe for a good, hard punch. All my anger went out in a single punch at his nose. "And _you_," I said, "lay off my friend." I was satisfied when Sloan fell to the floor, groaning.

"Annabeth…" Percy stammered. "How did you… How long have you…"

"Pretty much all morning," I said, sheathing my knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

Percy's face suddenly went red. "The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" he stuttered. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" I snapped, though my face felt hot, too. _Gods_, it's not like I was stalking him and admiring him in his sleep! I didn't want to break and enter. I prayed with all my might that Percy wouldn't find out I was also in the locker room. "I just didn't want to—"

I was cut short by a woman's scream. "There!" The doors flung open and a bunch of people came running in. This was going to get complicated.

"Meet me outside," I told Percy. "And him," I pointed grimly to Tyson, the Cyclops, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. "You'd better bring him," I spat out, cringing. We couldn't just live that here.

Percy looked shocked. "_What?_"

"No time!" I said. "Hurry!" I pulled on my invisibility cap, leaving behind a confused Percy who I hoped caught on. I spotted a gaping hole on the side of the wall and jumped off into the streets below.

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><p><em>AN: __PJOBookWorm: And that's the end of chapter three! So now that you've read the Iris message part, I hope that you can pretend making rainbows that way is possible. We'd appreciate that and give you virtual cookies if you do. ;) Hope you liked it and hope you don't mind that the scene wasn't very realistic! I apologize for its not being plausible, but...let's just say Iris has a soft spot for Annabeth. One last thing: to all the football-crazed Americans...Super Bowl today! Who are you rooting for (Go, go, go Patriots!), or do you just watch to see the commercials? Anyway, please review and have a good day!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: PJOBookWorm: Totally sorry for the wait. The next chapter will be out sooner, I _promise_! Thanks so much to the people who continually come back to read this story and review or add it to their favorites! I'm so happy to have continuous support and to know that people are reading and liking this story! It really does mean_ so _much! Thank you! I hope you'll like this super long chapter!_

_carameltootsieroll: _Hey guys! Thanks for those heartwarming reviews! And yaaay! We learned something new: fanfics don't have to be plausible! Haha a little shout out to **Sunny99 **for that review. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!__

_Disclaimer: If we owned PJO, we'd be super rich. Sadly, we are not, and therefore, we don't._

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 4

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><p>As soon as I reached Church Street, I turned down into an alley and heaved a big sigh. I definitely needed a rest. And the pounding pain in my head just added to that thought.<p>

But I couldn't just forget about camp, nor could I leave Percy behind while all the monsters attacked him. And his Cyclops friend was another thing. What was Percy even doing with a Cyclops? How did the Cyclops even find Percy in the first place?

I tried to control my emotions, but memories broke free of the dam I had mentally built in my mind to help myself forget of the horrible times. They came flooding back into my head: a cave; Cyclopes; Thalia. It was because of the Cyclopes that the monsters caught up with us. It was because of the Cyclopes that Thalia was now a pine tree.

I put my hand to my forehead, feeling a pounding headache as thoughts muddled around in my head. Why did Percy have to find a Cyclops? Closing my eyes and trying to get my thoughts straight, I started slipping back into a memory. A memory of what happened after Thalia sacrificed herself.

I heard Luke's voice echoing in my head, I heard his cursing the Cyclopes, I heard quiet sobbing, I heard thundering. If only…

The sound of feet pounding against the pavement startled me out of my thoughts. I blinked and turned just in time to see Percy and Tyson running. I quickly tried to shake the memory out of my head, but in the back of my mind, I knew there was no way I would be able to fully get rid of it. I might have prevented myself from sinking back into that memory for now, but as I looked at the Cyclops running towards me, I knew the memory would be crawling back into my mind soon.

I pulled Percy into the alley, Tyson following. Under different circumstances, I would've been really glad to see Percy. Sure, he was the son of Poseidon and technically we weren't supposed to get along, but we made our peace and I figured he wasn't that bad after all.

But the Cyclops he was with just ruined my mood. Cyclopes were horrible, horrible creatures. And I knew that from experience.

"Where'd you find him?" I glared at Tyson, my voice coming out harsher than I had expected.

"He's my friend," Percy replied.

I snorted internally. How could a Cyclops be anyone's friend? "Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

"He can talk?" I asked, having apparently forgotten that Cyclopes weren't just horrible monsters and did have some skills. But of course—basically all monsters could talk.

"I talk," Tyson said. "You are pretty."

Whatever I had been expecting him to say—say, death threats or unintelligible grunts—I definitely wasn't expecting that. "Ah! Gross!" I squeaked and stepped back, disgusted.

Percy ignored me and took Tyson's hands. He examined them under the light and seemed amazed.

"Tyson," he said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," I muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

While I was having a serious conversation with Percy about the latest life-threatening situation, Tyson just seemed fascinated by my blonde hair. He tried to touch it, but I swatted his hand away. I did not need any more dirt or spit in it, and I definitely didn't want to let some Cyclops touch it.

"Annabeth," Percy said. "What are you talking about? Laistry—what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

I thought about it. "Canadians," I decided, trying to hide my smirk. Heh, they _were_ north of the U.S. Besides, it wasn't like he'd hold me to it and remember them as Canadians. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems. Have you been having dreams?" I asked, recalling Percy's fitful state this morning and wondering if he knew the level of danger that camp was in.

"The dreams…about Grover?" Percy asked.

I felt my fingers go numb. First there was trouble at camp, then Percy had made friend with a Cyclops, and now Grover was in danger? This day just kept getting better and better. I immediately began worrying for my friend. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

Percy sighed, a pained expression on his face. "Well, in my dream, Grover was on this really stormy island. He was running away from a monster or something. He ran into a shop and hid behind a rack of wedding dresses to get away from the monster. But then, the store exploded and the monster yelled, 'Mine!' And…that was the end of my dream."

My eyes widened and shivers ran down my spine. I had a bad feeling about this. That this was much worse than just a monster. If Grover was caught by that monster…

Percy let out a deep breath, they asked, "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

I tried to digest what I just heard. If Grover was in trouble… I knew I had to help. But camp… "Camp," I replied to Percy. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom's been saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly," I admitted. "Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?" I asked, eying Percy for any signs of scars or wounds.

Percy shook his head and said, "None all year…until today."

"None?" I repeated. "But how…" How did that make sense? I had more than usual, and Percy should have had even more because he was the son of Poseidon. My eyes drifted over to Tyson and I felt my gaze harden. "Oh." The Cyclops.

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy asked.

Tyson waved his hand in the air. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something… Son of the Sea God?"

Percy and I looked at each other. Should we tell him? He was a Cyclops, so he already knew about the gods… plus he was probably the son of… but then again, if we told him, he'd have to most likely go with us to camp.

"Big guy," Percy said gently, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—" Thank you, Percy, for actually mentioning Athena before Hades!

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well…" Percy said. "Those gods are sill alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said again, impatiently.

"Uh, well," Percy said awkwardly, "Annabeth and I are half-bloods. We're like…heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes." Was that the only word that Cyclops could say?

Percy looked a little confused and surprised as he stared at Tyson. "So… you believe me?"

Tyson nodded, and asked hopefully, "But you are… Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah." Percy nodded. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned, looking confused. "But then…"

Did that mean that Tyson was also the son of—?

Just then, a siren wailed as a police car raced past the alley, a 99.9% chance that it was heading for Percy's school.

"We don't have time for this," I said, referring to how slow the conversation was going. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy asked, shocked. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me," I said. We definitely weren't taking a normal taxi.

Percy's eyes darted over to his friend. "What about Tyson?" I tensed. I was hoping he wouldn't ask about Tyson. "We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."

I crinkled my nose and frowned, definitely not wanting to take Tyson to camp. I was tempted to leave him here to get in trouble as he deserved, but he was Percy's friend, and I guessed there had to be a reason for that. And what if the Cyclops decided to run his mouth off to the next person he saw about what we just told him? I remembered my dream and the Iris message with camp, and I knew if there were monsters, we might possibly need the Cyclops' help.

"Yeah." I sighed resentfully, not too happy with possibly having to get a Cyclops' help. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I walked down the alley with Percy and Tyson following me, and inconspicuously traveled down the streets, away from the gym, trying to look innocent. When we got to the corner of Thomas and Trimble, we stopped.

"Here," I said. I looked around my backpack for a drachma, wishing I hadn't wasted them on the Iris messages that hadn't even worked. I was getting too rusty with planning. That's what happened when I didn't stay at camp year-round. "I hope I have one left."

"What are you looking for?" Percy asked.

Ignoring him, I continued digging through my backpack until I saw a flash of gold. Relieved, I reached in and pulled out the drachma. "Found one. Thank the gods."

"Annabeth," Percy said, looking at me like I was crazy, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

I ignored him again, remembering just how much he still didn't know, and shouted in Ancient Greek, "Stêthi Ô hárma diabolês!", before throwing the drachma onto the street, where it sank through the asphalt.

When nothing happened for a minute, I grew panicked, thinking I had wasted my last drachma and wondering how we were ever going to get to camp. But when the asphalt started to darken, I breathed a sigh of relief, figuring the Gray Sisters must have been a little behind schedule. The asphalt melted into bubbling, red liquid in the shape of a rectangle, and from the ooze sprouted the taxi.

It was funny how an odd taxi that looked like smoke could ease my spirits so much. One of the Gray Sisters stuck her head out the window, her hair as mop and rag-like as ever, and mumbled, "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," I said, opening the door and motioning at Percy, who was glued to the ground in shock, to hurry up and get in the taxi. We didn't have all day here!

"Ach!" Anger screamed, pointing at Tyson. "We don't take his kind."

Believe me, I didn't want him along either. But a nagging voice in my head told me it was absolutely necessary for him to come along, so I sighed and said, "Extra pay. Three more drachmas on arrival."

"Done!"

Percy wouldn't get into the taxi, and I glared at him and jerked my head towards the door. He reluctantly crawled in, followed by Tyson, and then me.

I slid onto the old, lumpy seat and tucked my hair behind my ear, remembering the last time I rode in this taxi—not the best taxi ride I'd had. Gazing at the Gray Sisters all crammed in the same seat, their yarn hair covering their eye sockets, their bony hands flung sporadically around, I wondered why I was doing this.

Oh, yeah. To get to camp.

Wasp cackled, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She slammed her foot on the accelerator and we lurched forward. Here it goes. Over the speaker, a recorded voice said, "Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!"

I ignored Ganymede's advice. He had always been crazy, anyway. Who'd want to chain themselves to this taxi? I gripped the handle of the door as the car catapulted around the corner of West Broadway.

"Look out! Go left!" Tempest wailed.

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" Wasp grumbled.

Why didn't Wasp have the eye? For gods' sakes, she was the one driving!

Suddenly, Wasp swerved sharply to avoid ramming into a truck, and I slammed into the door as the taxi sped bumpily over the curb and crashed onto the next block.

"Wasp!" Anger screeched. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it!"

"You bit it last time, Anger!" Wasp snapped. "It's my turn!"

"It's not!" Anger yelled back.

Tempest interrupted their fighting and screamed louder than both of them, "Red light!"

"Brake!" Anger shouted.

Instead of immediately jabbing the break with her foot to cause us to lurch forward and hit the driver seat, Wasp stomped on the accelerator, causing us to lurch back and hit our heads on the back of our seats as the car flew off. We rode up another curb and sharply veered around a corner, knocking over a newspaper box in the progress. I tightened my grip on the door handle and prayed the ride wouldn't go as badly as last time's did.

"Excuse me," Percy gasped out. "But… can you see?"

"NO!" Tempest and Wasp screamed as Anger screamed, "Of course!"

Percy looked at me with fear in his eyes. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," I reasoned. "They have an eye."

"One eye?" Percy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

I clung on to the handle, and Tyson groaned, clutching his stomach and saying, "Not feeling so good."

Not needing a sick Cyclops near me, I subconsciously tried to scoot away from Tyson, but couldn't or else I'd fall out the car.

"Oh, man," Percy said. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

The Gray Sisters ignored him.

"Look out for that building!" Anger screeched.

Percy glanced over at me with a whiny _are-you-trying-to-kill-me?_ look.

"Hey, the Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp," I defended.

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?" Percy asked. Come on, I was rusty at planning, but not that rusty!

"That's outside their service area," I said. Didn't he think I would if I could? "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed, trying to promote her service. After all, whatever a celebrity likes is cool, right? (Uh, not exactly.) "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp cried. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

Anger ignored Wasp and said, "Give me the tooth!" She tried to snatch it directly from Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted Anger's hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!" Wasp shot back.

"No!" Tempest snarled. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!" Wasp screeched.

I had to agree with that last part.

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!" Tempest cried.

The tires squealing, the car took a sharp turn onto Delancey Street, thrusting me into the Cyclops. Wasp hit the accelerator and rushed over the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour. Well, at least she had slowed down a little.

And then the Gray Sisters started a full on catfight, with slapping and hair pulling and high-pitched screeching. Wasp's mossy yellow incisor seemed to be screaming at me, and Anger's bloody green eye swirled around and around. As strands of hair were tugged on and hands clawed out, the cab didn't do anything to decrease its speed.

With a triumphant yell, Anger managed to use her rolling eye to locate Wasp's mossy molar and pull it out of Wasp's mouth. Huffing indignantly, Wasp's face grew red with anger and she strayed to the edge of the bridge, screaming, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Lovely. We could plummet off the bridge to our doom at any second and there the three sisters were, arguing over a disgusting molar.

Tyson moaned, clutching his stomach, his face a little green.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said nervously, "we're going to die!"

Hopefully not. I'd like to live at least until I designed my own building, thank you. "Don't worry. The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise." Well, about most things, anyway.

"Yes, wise!" Anger exclaimed, grinning triumphantly, flashing her molar. "We know things!"

"Every street of Manhattan! The capital of Nepal!" Wasp said smugly while pummeling Anger.

"The location you seek," Tempest couldn't resist adding.

What? The location? Percy wasn't looking for a location…yet…

Anger and Wasp immediately started beating up Tempest, yelling, "Be quiet! Be quiet!" Oh, they were_ so_ quiet. "He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Percy asked, leaning forward, his—and my—curiosity peaked. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest cried. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me," Percy demanded.

"NO!" the Gray Sisters screeched.****  
><strong>**

"The last time we told," Tempest said, "it was horrible!"

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger cried, fingering her eye.

"Years find it again!" Wasp whimpered. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger, pushing back Wasp.

"Eye! Gimme!" Wasp punched Anger's back, and after a loud pop that reminded me of a toilet plunger's pop, the eye flew out of Anger's socket. Anger scrambled forward and tried to catch it, but she ended up swatting it with her hand. The eye flew up in the air and straight into Percy. Percy looked a little sick and shocked, and he jumped, hitting his head in the process, causing the eyeball to roll off his lap.

"I can't see!" all of the Gray sisters yelled.

I groaned. This was definitely not safe for driving at all.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp screamed.

"Give her the eye!" I screamed at Percy, fearing for our lives.

"I don't have it!" Percy screamed.

I scanned the ground, wondering where the eye had rolled, and finally located some green slime by Percy's foot. "There, by your foot. Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!" Percy cried, grossed out.

So Percy would mail Medusa's head to the gods but he wouldn't pick up an eyeball?

As the Gray Sisters went crazy, the taxi slammed against the guardrail on the bridge, making a horrendous, high-pitched squeal and it skidded across the bridge. Instead of getting dents like a normal car would, the taxi's smoke weakened, which didn't make me feel any better.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson whined.

"Annabeth," Percy yelled. "Let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy?" I cried. As if I were going to let a Cyclops puke into my bag! I had important stuff in there. "Get the eye!"

As if just realizing the situation the car was in, Wasp yanked the steering wheel while battling her sisters. The taxi finally swerved away from the guardrail and started zooming towards Brooklyn, gaining speed as it raced.

"I want the eye!"

"Gimme it!"

"NO!"

I glanced desperately at Percy, who had a grimace on his face. He shook his head, then took a deep breath and tore a cloth off his tie-dye gym uniform. Kneeling over, he used the cloth to gingerly pick up the eyeball from the ground.

"Nice boy!" Anger cackled, sensing Percy had picked up her eye. "Give it back!"

Percy had that look on his face again, the one when he was thinking of a crazy plan that could possibly get him killed.

"Not until you explain," Percy said. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"

"No time! Accelerating!" Tempest screeched.

And the taxi was speeding up, shooting past mailboxes, then streets, and then neighborhoods. If Percy thought that the speed we were going at before was fast, now it was even worse. He couldn't just keep a hold of the eyeball! We might not be able to survive if he did!

"Percy," I all but screeched anxiously, "they can't find our destinations without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell me."

Oh, fine, don't listen to what I said even though I saved your butt a hundred times before.

"Or I'll open the window," Percy threatened, "and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."

NO!

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I'm rolling down the window," Percy said.

What didn't he get about breaking into a million pieces? I knew he wouldn't throw out the eye anyway, but he wasn't close to giving it back without the answer. I had to admit, I was curious too, wondering what the location the Gray Sisters were talking about was, but there was no way I'd try to find out by risking our lives and the safety of camp. I'd have to lecture Percy on planning later.

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters cried, and then spat out, "30, 31, 75, 12!"

What? Numbers? What did that have to do with the location?

Percy looked even more confused than me. "What do you mean? That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger repeated. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

And there was Thalia's pine tree, coming into view, standing and protecting camp. Percy had to give back the eye, or else.

"Percy!" I cried. Did breaking into a million pieces sound appealing to him or something? "Give them the eye now!"

Percy looked at me, and, sensing my urgency, threw the eye at Wasp. Wasp grabbed it and, fumbling, stuck the eye right into her socket, then blinked and cried, "Whoa!"

Wasp slammed down on the brakes and the car spun around in circles, screeching and crying to a dizzy halt at the base of Half-Blood Hill. Disgustedly ignoring Tyson's burp and proclamation of how he was better, I fearfully looked out the window of the taxi, bracing myself, remembering my dream and the Iris messages.

My heart sank when I saw camp and my palms grew sweaty. I guessed that at the back of my mind, I was hoping that the dreams and the Iris messages had intensified everything and made the conditions at camp seem worse than they really were, and that camp would be all right. But as I gazed out the window, I realized the dreams and Iris messages were pretty spot-on.

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><p><em>AN: carameltootsieroll: _Do you guys like the cliff-hanger? Tell us what you think of this chapter guys! Please click that review button! And on another note, is any of you a fan of the band Rocket to the Moon? Well, they just had a concert here in the Philippines, and I MISSED it. I am sad. Well, anyway, hope you guys liked chapter 4 and please do stay tuned for chapter 5! :)__


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: carameltootsieroll: _Hey guys! Sorry for the super slow updates. On my side, I had a load of comprehensive end-of-the-year tests. But that's gonna be over in two days…so yippee! It's gonna be summer vacation for me since I'm in the Philippines. Anyway, with out further ado, here's chapter 5!__

_PJOBookWorm: Okay, so we kind of failed with that last promise to update sooner. A thousand apologies! I'm so sorry for all the wait we've been evilly inflicting on you and I want to thank you for putting up with our aggravating updates! Hopefully, our updates *will* be coming sooner for the next few chapters. If not, you can leave rants for us, okay? ;) Anyway, hope you like this chapter!_

_Disclaimer: Nope, we still don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  
><em>

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter Five

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><p>Bulls. Bulls were roaming the camp. And they had somehow gotten past Thalia's pine tree. Looking closely, I felt my heart clench as I realized the bulls were Colchis bulls, made of bronze and hard to damage, making them a hundred times worse than regular bulls. Hephaestus created the Colchis bulls, and if that didn't show you that they were deadly enough, they could even breathe fire.<p>

I saw the campers, small in size compared to the bulls, trying to fight. But as experienced as the campers were, they were still having trouble since the bulls weren't easily hurt with weapons.

Styx. This was not good.

But Percy was more interested in finding out what the numbers mean. "All right," he said to the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

And while you spend your time trying to figure out the meanings that they won't tell you, Percy, I'll start helping the camp. "No time!" I snapped, kicking open the door. "We have to get out, _now."_

Percy looked confused and was about to complain when he finally looked out through the window and at camp. His face paled and his eyes bugged out. Now he sensed the danger.

I shot out of the taxi, all but pulling Percy and Tyson out behind me. When the Gray Sisters noticed what was happening at camp, they stopped squabbling over who was getting the eye and pushed down on the accelerator, zooming out and leaving us behind in the dust (which was kind of good because I would _not_ want to get them their extra drachmas).

My eyes scoured the hill and I analyzed the conditions of camp. "Oh, man," I muttered, my heart pounding as I stared fearfully at the battle.

Then I heard a shout. "Border patrol, to me!" It was Clarisse, daughter of Ares. Border patrol? This was bad. How many monsters had been getting into camp?

"It's Clarisse," I told Percy, who looked like he was trying to place the voice. "Come on, we have to help her."

Even though Clarisse was the daughter of Ares, she was still having trouble fighting the bulls. Her warriors didn't have half the guts she had and were screeching, scattering away from the bulls. Clarisse wouldn't give up fighting even though she had a broken spear shaft, but she wasn't doing so well alone.

Percy uncapped his pen and it grew into his sword. "Tyson," Percy said, "stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."

"No!" I cried, knowing that Cyclopes were immune to fire. "We need him," I forced out. I didn't like to admit it, but it was true. He would be able to stand the fire and use his strength to defeat the bulls.

Percy stared at me in astonishment, and at first I thought it was because I admitted to needing a Cyclops. But then he said, "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"

Gods, did Percy _still _not know what Tyson was?

"Percy," I said, "do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp." Tyson, on the other hand, didn't need anything.

"Medea's _what?_" Percy asked.

I ignored him, suddenly realizing that I did, in fact, own a bottle of Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000 (and 5,000 too). If I had it, maybe we wouldn't need to be forced to get help from a Cyclops. My fingers couldn't seem to find the bottle in my bag. I felt my heart sink. It would be difficult—no, nearly impossible—to defeat those Colchis Bulls without the sunscreen. I cursed.

"I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my nightstand at home!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't I bring it?" How dumb of me!

Percy looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm _not _going to let Tyson get fried."

Tyson was a Cyclops! He wouldn't get fried! I opened my mouth to explain everything to Percy and get it straight. "Percy—"

"Tyson, stay back," Percy interrupted, raising his sword. "I'm going in."

Before I could shout at Percy that Tyson was a Cyclops, he ran off up the hill towards Clarisse. I had no choice but to sprint after him, towards the bulls, without any fire-immune objects to help fight.

_-—-—-—-_—-—-—-__—-—-—-__—-—-—-__—-—-—-__—-—-—-__—-—-—-__—-—-—-__

From my many years at camp, I knew that Clarisse was a brave girl, one of the bravest I'd ever met, even if she had a...not-so-good personality. Her physique made her look as if she was born to be on the battlefield, fighting monsters to death and winning every battle. She was a daughter of Ares, after all. But with those Colchis bulls running around, I couldn't see if even Clarisse could make it out of this fight alive.

"Phalanx formation!" Clarisse ordered her warriors. It was a good battle strategy to try to hold off the bulls, but only a few of her warriors listened and lined up. The rest of them ran around, screaming their heads off as the fires on their shields and battle armor grew bigger. I had a feeling that Clarisse was going to talk to them about battle composition afterwards.

There were only two bulls running around like the deranged animals they were, but I knew they were deadly. As Percy raced to one side, I raced to another.

I jumped in front of one of the bulls and caught its attention. "Hey! You! Does your face naturally look like that, or did your mom throw it in a blender?"

It wasn't the best taunt, but it worked. The bull roared and chased after me. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, occasionally shouting out more taunts and insults like, "Is that how fast you can run? A turtle could outrun you!" The bull grew angrier and I could feel the ground shaking as he chased me around the hill. At the last moment, I pulled on my invisibility cap, disappearing and completely confusing the monster. It stopped mid-chase, wondering where I went.

"What's the matter? Your eye get messed up in the blender when your face was thrown in?" I teased.

The bull growled and clomped in my direction, but I had already run the other way and was safely out of the area when the bull breathed fire angrily. I could feel the heat even though I was yards away from the bull.

Giving a quick glance around me, I found Percy making his way towards Clarisse and the second bull, though he was still at too far of a location to give any proper help.

When I turned back towards the bull, I saw that it was looking around and starting to walk towards Percy, perhaps losing interest in finding me. I quickly called out, "You're not that bright for a bull, are you?", and the bull turned around, nostrils flaring.

It ambled in my direction, opening its mouth to blow fire at me, but I jumped to the side. Calculations ran through my head as I tried to think of when would be the best time to attack the bull.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered down the hill as her warriors shivered and faltered at the sight of the second bull coming closer to them.

Then everything went downhill...both figuratively and literally. The bull chasing me grew frustrated when it couldn't find me and decided it had better things to do. It turned, barreling straight down towards Clarisse's unprotected side. I tried to shout after it to distract it, but the bull thought it would be more interesting to chase down a daughter of Ares.

Clarisse didn't see the bull coming at her, but Percy did.

"Behind you!" Percy yelled at Clarisse. "Look out!"

As usual, Seaweed Brain should have kept his mouth shut. All his warning did was startle Clarisse. As Clarisse let her guard down, startled from Percy's loud and sudden shout, the bull crashed into her shield, sending Clarisse flying backwards into a patch of smoldering grass. With that, the phalanx broke apart, the warriors quivering with fear.

But the bull wasn't satisfied with that just yet. It charged past Clarisse, but not before it forgot to shoot a huge heat wave that melted the weapons of the warriors coming to Clarisse's aid right then and there. The campers ran off screaming just as the second bull closed in on Clarisse, ready to give her a deathblow.

I was running towards the bulls and Clarisse as quickly as I could when, out of nowhere, Percy lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor, dragging her out of the second bull's path. Percy slashed at the bull with his sword, cutting into its flank. Unfortunately, it didn't do much, and the monster just groaned before it kept advancing.

Clarisse wasn't too pleased with Percy's playing hero, and she punched Percy's hand while shouting, "Let me go! Percy, curse you!"

Percy followed her orders and dropped her on the ground near the border.

I found myself glued to the ground, just watching the scene instead of moving. Regaining my composure, I shouted orders to the remaining warriors on the hill. "Spread out, guys! Keep them distracted!"

They rolled out, following my instructions and trying to keep the bulls from getting too far in to camp.

I turned my attention to the first bull, trying to gain back its attention. I ran after it and tried shouting more insults, but bulls must not have liked fighting me, since the bull ignored me and instead made its way towards Percy.

I felt my stomach flip as the bull kept on running past the boundary line, only slowing down a bit as it crossed into camp. Seeing monsters cross over the boundary line in person worried me even more. There was something just so _wrong_ about that image.

Everything was going wrong today. The second bull turned to face Percy, its eyes glowering as if he were mad at Percy for making the nasty gash on his side. Percy already looked weary and I knew he couldn't make it out of this fight alive if both bulls attacked him.

The bull blew flames at him, forcing Percy on roll to his side towards a tree. As much as I wanted to run in and help him, I knew I couldn't do much. I would barely be able to hold back the bull, either. Running in would be a suicidal mission. But I couldn't let him fend for his own.

Percy tried to sit up, but his foot caught on something. His ankle twisted into an unnatural angle and his face contorted in pain, but he still managed to slash part of the monster's nose with his sword. It backed up, a wild look in its glowing red eyes.

Percy pushed himself up, but almost immediately, his left leg buckled underneath him and he fell back down, wincing. He must have sprained his ankle. I cursed. There was no way Percy was in good enough condition to fight the bull. My eyes darted to the camp boundary, where someone was standing…

Then the first bull charged straight at him. Percy looked hopeless.

I felt helpless watching this scene as Percy fought the bulls. I couldn't just stand there. Percy needed help. My eyes darted back towards the boundary line. As I looked at the giant figure stuck there, I weighed my options. I winced again. Finally, I shouted, "Tyson, help him!"

Tyson was hammering his head against the invisible shield of the camp boundaries. So they were working after all? "Can't—get—through!" he groaned.

My heart hammered against my chest. What I was about to do was wrong, I knew. It would defy everything Luke had told me that day after Thalia was turned into a pine tree. It was like summoning a monster into camp. But it was the only way to save Percy... I had to.

I took a deep breath. "I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!" I tried not to let my voice falter.

Big thunder roared, shaking the ground. Tyson broke through the boundaries and ran towards Percy, yelling, "Percy needs help!"

I hoped I wasn't making a big mistake.

The Cyclops dove between Percy and the first bull just as the bull unleashed a powerful heat blast.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

From my place, only Tyson's silhouette could be seen. It was a horrible scene, even if I hated Cyclopes. I winced as the fire circled Tyson, thinking about how hot the heat from the fire must be. Even if he was a Cyclops.

Then the fire and smoke cleared, and Tyson stood there, no part of him scorched or burned, only annoyed. The bull stumbled back in surprise, which quickly morphed into annoyance. It got ready to release a second blast, but before it could, Tyson balled his fist and punched the bull in the face. "BAD COW!"

The punch left a huge dent on the bull's face, smashing in its snout. The bull was already fazed, and when Tyson hit it a second time, the bull staggered. "Down!" Tyson yelled. The bull fell on its back, legs outstretched and dangling in the air as steam erupted from its head.

The bull was finally down, and I ran over to Percy, worried. Smelling of smoke, Percy was clutching his ankle and his face was twisted in pain. I hurriedly pulled out my canteen of nectar. "Here, drink it," I commanded.

He took a sip, and instantly, he looked better and sat up.

"The other bull?" he asked.

I pointed down the hill towards Clarisse, who had managed to stab the monster with her spear. Now, it was tottering around in circles, dazed, like it had been on one of those teacup rides at the amusement park and had spun around way over the maxium speed. If the scene weren't so scary, I might have even laughed.

Then Clarisse yanked her helmet off of her head and turned toward us, glaring, a strand of her hair also glaring at us with a flame. She stomped toward us and yelled at Percy, "You—ruin—everything! I had it under control!"

Of course she had it all under control. Her warriors showed just how much "under control" she had it.

Percy seemed too shocked to answer. I couldn't blame him. He had just run in to help his fellow campers, twisted his ankle, and almost gotten himself scorched by the Colchis Bulls.

Clarisse knew how to give the nicest greetings. "Good to see you too, Clarisse," I muttered.

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

I tried to change the topic. "Clarisse, you've got wounded campers."

Clarisse's face softened. Even if she was the daughter of the war god, she did care about her soldiers like any good leader should.

"I'll be back," she grumbled, then marched off to her warriors.

Meanwhile, Percy was staring at Tyson in shock. "You didn't die," he noted, a bit of awe creeping into his voice.

Tyson avoided his glance like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," I admitted. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?" Percy asked, confused. "But—"

"Percy," I said as calmly as I could. He couldn't just keep on not knowing the truth about Tyson. "Have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy studied Tyson for a while. His eyes traveled to the Cyclops's bumpy nose, then reluctantly, higher, until he reached Tyson's eye. Percy's eyes widened and he blinked.

"Tyson," Percy stuttered. "You're a..."

"Cyclops," I bit out. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?" Percy asked.

"They're in almost all the big cities," I said, trying to hold back my distaste. Why big cities? Why not isolated areas that I'd never go to? "They're...mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods... Well, one god in particular, usually..." I stopped myself from saying the name of the god. I didn't want to hurt Percy's feelings after all, and I didn't know how Percy would react if he found out. "And they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire," Percy stuttered. "How—"

"He's a Cyclops." I paused involuntarily and found a scene creeping back into my mind. I remembered the tall monster standing before me, threatening the lives of my friends. I was just seven years old when that happened...and I wasn't sure I wanted to remember it. I quickly shook my head to clear the image from my mind and continued explaining. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."

Percy looked shocked, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. I couldn't blame him. I guess I would feel the same way if I found out that my friend was a monstrous beast, let alone a Cyclops.

Just then, Clarisse came trudging back to us. "Jackson," she said grudgingly, "if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

I'd been at camp the longest, but never had anyone of that name come to camp. What was he doing here? The gears turned in my head. Tantalus? Something came up in the back of my mind, prodding my brain as if I should know who that was. But standing on top of the hill and looking at the two bulls that had crossed through the boundary, I couldn't concentrate enough to figure out who Tantalus was.

"Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse snapped.

What? I opened my mouth to shout at Clarisse to stop trying to trick us, but Percy beat me to it.

"Chiron is the activities director," Percy said. "And where's Argus? He's the head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse made a face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

No... Did that mean Chiron and Argus were both fired, along with camp's being in trouble? It couldn't be...this couldn't be happening. In the state that camp was in, we needed them the most.

"But Chiron... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years," Percy said. "He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened." Clarisse pointed over Half-blood Hill... Thalia's tree.

The tree that was a symbol of Thalia. The tree that showed Thalia's bravery, her heart. The tree that protected camp from the monsters. The tree that everyone knew.

The tree…whose needles were a sickly shade of yellow. The tree whose dead leaves littered around its base. The tree that, in the middle of the trunk, had a punctured hole, looking as if someone had shot the tree. The tree that oozed green sap from the hole. The tree that showed Thalia's symbol…fading.

My legs felt like lead as I stared, eyes widened in horror, at the dying symbol of my best friend who had been willing to give up her life if it meant saving ours. I stepped back, my mouth hung open in horror and shock. Thalia was so brave, so strong. Who would dare do this?

I felt myself slowly walk towards the tree as if in a trance, dragging my feet on the ground. Needles pricked at my eyes, stinging them and blurring my vision. Nonetheless, my eyes stayed glued to the tree.

That's why. _That's why._ Monsters were overrunning Camp. All because the tree was dying. Thalia...

I reached out and gently touched the rough bark of the pine tree. My hand slowly drifted down towards the hole and I suddenly felt dizzy.

No one had shot Thalia's tree. The truth was even worse: someone had poisoned it.

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><p><em>AN: PJOBookWorm: And that's chapter five! Did you like it, hate it, find things for us to do better, etc.? Leave your thoughts in a review! :D And a side note here: Who's excited for The Hunger Games movie? Team Peeta, Team Gale (whoooo), or couldn't care less? ;) (Though, of course, there's much more The Hunger Games than just that love triangle!)_

_Carameltootsieroll: Hope you guys liked it! Stay tuned for Chapter 6, and this time we promise to update faster! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: _ _PJOBookWorm: There probably isn't even enough space in an A/N to describe how sorry we are for taking more than four months to update without the A/N being longer than this chapter. We're extreme fail updaters and extremely sorry. If you're still reading despite our horrendous updates, thank you so much. We really hope you like this chapter._

_Disclaimer: We're not even worthy to own the PJO series._

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 6

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><p>From my many years at camp, I'd done my fair share of cabin inspections and could usually tell which cabins were naturally clean and which cabins had just scrambled to clean everything. Even if the inspections were every day, the campers would always manage to somehow mess up their cabins in between the time period. Every week when I checked the cabins, the cabins that had to scramble at the last minute to clean everything never looked the same. Well, they'd still have their furniture in the same places, but I could see the campers nervously shifting around in the cabin as if it wasn't theirs, but a hotel.<p>

Before any inspections, the campers there would treat their un-cleaned cabin like a real home, which it was. But after it was cleaned, the cabin would be almost foreign to them, not having the same feel as home. Maybe that was why they were so eager to mess up their cabin again and get back the feeling of a comfortable, lived-in home.

Walking around camp, I suddenly knew how some of the campers felt during the cabin inspections. Camp still had the same scenery: the Big House, the twelve cabins, the strawberry fields, the dining pavilion, the stables, the sword arena, and all that. But it _felt _different. Not like the camp I had grown up in. And I desperately wanted to do anything to make camp right again.

On a regular day at camp, I always saw scenes that consisted of the Stoll brothers playing pranks on other campers, the Aphrodite girls obsessing over makeup, and Clarisse attempting to beat someone up. I saw half-bloods canoe racing, fighting, and doing all their training, but with enjoyment and excitement.

But as I scanned the grounds, I saw campers hurriedly preparing weapons and running messages. The usual smiles were replaced with grim faces. Even the Stoll brothers, who tried to cheer people up at first, started to frown. The campers weren't doing any training or events, just preparing weapons. The danger in the air and the melancholy attitudes of the campers were tangible.

I took in a sharp breath, hating to see my home like this. It wasn't home anymore. It was... My old home, before I ran away to camp, the one with my shouting stepmom and disappointed dad. I couldn't do anything there. I didn't like it there—not at all. All I did was go to school, come back, complete my measly portion of homework, and do my chores, trying to avoid the monsters attacking all the while. It was a bore of a routine. A routine I never liked. And I didn't like the way camp was, with Thalia's poisoned pine tree and Chiron possibly leaving.

Choking back tears at the last two facts I'd learned, I walked towards the Big House with Percy and Tyson following. Campers who were walking outside didn't welcome us back. They didn't smile at us. They didn't wave. They didn't look up. Only a few campers looked at us, and that was to do a double take at Tyson, which I couldn't blame them for.

Camp Half-Blood like this was so foreign. When I went back to my dad's house last summer, it was foreign to me, too. There was all the furniture I distinctly remembered, but the air was different. Instead of hating the foreign air, I embraced it. My parents were treating me well for once, caring for me.

But here, campers didn't look like they were enjoying camp at all, and they just marched on, hoisting weapons.

Tyson, the unobservant Cyclops, didn't seem to see what state camp was in. As we walked around, he spun his head around his neck, acting like a never-tiring bobblehead. He shot a fusillade of questions at Percy as he fervently studied his surroundings.

"Whasthat!" Tyson squealed, sticking his hand out towards the stables.

"The stables for pegasi," Percy replied. "The winged horses."

"Whasthat!" Tyson gushed, flinging his hand towards the...bathrooms.

"Um … those are the toilets," Percy said, scratching the back of his head.

Wait, had the Cyclops never seen or used a toilet before? I inched a little further away from him.

"Whasthat!" Tyson cried, this time pointing more sensibly at the cabins.

"The cabins for the campers," Percy explained. "If they don't know who your Olympian parent is, they put you in the Hermes cabin—that brown one over there—until you're determined. Then, once they know, they put you in your dad or mom's group."

Tyson stared open-mouthed at the cabins, then turned to Percy with a shine in his eyes. "You…have a _cabin_?"

"Number three," Percy said, pointing to his cabin.

"You live with friends in the cabin?" Tyson asked—was it hopefully?

I still had my suspicions about who Tyson's god parent was. All those questions Tyson was asking, did that mean he knew who his parent was, too? And that he wanted to learn more? I quickly shook my head to get rid of the thoughts. Even if I was right, there was no way that Tyson would even be claimed...was there?

"No. No, just me," Percy said uncomfortably, not wanting to mention that he technically shouldn't be in that cabin anyway as his birth broke the pact The Big Three made.

What was the aforementioned pact? Well, in the war between the gods and the titans that lasted for ten years, the gods beat Kronos, the evil Titan Lord of Time. His remains, sliced up in pieces, were thrown into the pit of Tartarus. All's well that ends well, right? Except Kronos was lying in Tartarus, slowly regaining power and plotting his revenge on Olympus. In the Great Prophecy, it was stated a half-blood from the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) would make a big choice in deciding Olympus' future. The gods freaked out and the Big Three made a pact to no longer have demigod children.

But Percy's birth broke the pact.

As we ventured nearer to the Big House, a sinking feeling came to my stomach, remembering Clarisse's words. Impending disaster drew nearer, hitting me like a sledgehammer.

I couldn't imagine Camp Half-Blood without Chiron. After running away from home, Chiron was the first true father figure I ever had. He cared for me and helped me so much; he truly made camp home. I couldn't bear to see him leave... He just _couldn't_ leave. Especially not with the state camp was in. Let's face it: Mr. D wasn't a good leader of camp, and he needed Chiron. And so did everyone else.

We walked through the Big House and into Chiron's apartment, where 60's music was playing. Chiron was inside, packing his bags in his true centaur form, though he could also appear as a human in a wheelchair in the presence of mortals. As he shuffled around his near-empty apartment, I just stared in shock, all reality coming crashing down on me. Chiron was leaving, camp was in danger, Thalia's pine tree was poisoned, Grover was in trouble, and a Cyclops was right next to me.

"Pony!" the aforementioned Cyclops gushed, staring at Chiron in delight.

Chiron bristled. "I beg your pardon?"

Seeing Chiron's face and his brown hair and beard did it in for me. Not being able to hold it in anymore, I ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not … leaving?" I asked dolefully.

Instead of answering, Chiron ruffled my hair and smiled at me with that familiar, fatherly smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year!"

Despite Chiron's affable words—really, who was Chiron trying to fool?—Percy also looked upset and worried. He stuttered, "Clarisse said you were… you were…"

"Fired," Chiron finished for Percy, his eyes dark and sarcastic. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned!"

Just hearing someone say out loud that Thalia's pine tree was poisoned sent another set of chills shooting down my spine.

"Mr. D had to punish someone," Chiron said.

"Besides himself, you mean," Percy growled, voicing my thoughts.

My eyes narrowed. Mr. D couldn't even remember my name. Obviously, he'd blame someone who was clearly innocent. How could Chiron have poisoned Thalia's tree? He was the one who had been so concerned for Thalia's safety and had to get her to camp in time. I was pretty sure that while Chiron had been planning Thalia's coming to camp, Mr. D had been sitting there, drinking his Diet Coke and grumbling about wine-withdrawal and being punished and stuck as the director of camp.

"But this is crazy!" I exclaimed. _Zeus _was crazy to even believe Mr. D (though I would never say that out loud unless being struck by lightning suddenly sounded like an appealing adventure to me). "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"

"Nevertheless, some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances," Chiron said, staring off sadly.

"What circumstances?" Percy asked, confused.

Chiron's face darkened and he ignored Percy, instead continuing to pack up his things. _"...under the circumstances." _Wait. Slowly processing his words, I realized what circumstance Chiron was talking about.

What—just because Chiron was the son of _him _didn't mean Chiron supported him! One look and anyone could tell that! The Olympians—besides Athena, of course—definitely weren't known for being wise. Chiron would never even hurt a camper. He was _not _like Kronos.

As we stood in silence watching Chiron pack, Tyson continued to stare at Chiron in awe. "Pony?"

Offended, Chiron turned to Tyson and said, "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

"Chiron, what about the tree?" Percy asked. "What happened?"

The offended look melted off of Chiron's face, and he sighed and shook his head. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

I tensed, hating to have Thalia's pine tree poisoned. She gave her life to save three lives, and now, someone had poisoned her. Someone deep in Tartarus. Guess which Titan was in the depths of Tartarus, slowly gaining power thanks to Luke?

"Then we know who's responsible!" Percy exclaimed. "Kro—"

"Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now," Chiron said.

"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."

Luke. He couldn't do it. He would never poison Thalia's tree. He wouldn't. It was _Thalia. _Our friend. The one who fought alongside him. The one who saved him. He couldn't—_wouldn't_—do that to Thalia...would he?

"Perhaps. But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless…" Chiron trailed off, looking thoughtful.

"Unless what?" I asked. I had to help. Not only for camp, but for Thalia, too.

"No," Chiron said, shaking his head as if to banish the idea from his mind. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

The gears turned in my head and I tried to come up with the item Chiron was talking about. _"...magic...lost centuries ago."_ I ran through a list in my mind. To heal Thalia's pine tree, it would have to be...

"What is it?" Percy asked. "We'll go find it!" He clenched his fist, determined.

...the Golden Fleece.

But where was it now?

Chiron finished packing and turned off his music. When he turned to look at Percy, he had a dour look in his eyes. Placing his hands on Percy's shoulders, Chiron said, "Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous."

I shifted guiltily, being the one who brought Percy to camp. But camp was in trouble and I wasn't going to fight without Seaweed Brain.

"But now that you are here, stay here," Chiron commanded. "Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."

"Why? I want to do something!" Percy cried, and I tacitly agreed with him. "I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—"

"Overrun by monsters," Chiron finished. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."

Percy grimaced, and I could tell that he wanted to do something, as did I.

Last summer when Percy, Grover, and I went on the quest for Zeus' missing master bolt, Kronos planned to drag Percy down to Tartarus, using cursed flying shoes that Luke, the traitor, gave Percy, and kill him. Luckily, the plan failed. But when we came back to camp, Luke, following Kronos, tried again to kill Percy. Percy was weak and would have died if we hadn't found him and Chiron hadn't healed him right then and there.

Remembering last summer made tears surface in my eyes. Before that summer, I had thought that Luke was my friend, my brother, a nice and caring person. He'd helped so much and cared for me so much when I ran away. But then, last summer, he turned to the dark side, siding with Kronos. And now... Now the symbol of Thalia's bravery was fading fast and camp just wasn't camp anymore. And now Grover was in danger and Chiron was leaving. Just like that, I was losing everyone who had taken care of me the most after I ran away.

It seemed too surreal to me, and I tried to blink back my tears. A tear trickled down my cheek and Chiron brushed it away. "Stay with Percy, child. Keep him safe. The prophecy—remember it!"

"I-I will." I stuttered, already running through lines of the prophecy I remembered in my head.

"Um …" Percy said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"

I shifted nervously on one foot and looked at Chiron, who also wasn't answering. It was forbidden for Percy to know the Great Prophecy before the time came.

"Right," Percy muttered after a moment of silence, sulking. "Just checking."

_It's for your own good, Seaweed Brain. _He just needed to train at camp for now. Train at camp.._._ Oh, gods no. A few days before Percy had come to camp, I had had a conversation with Chiron a few days before in which he told me more about his job.

"Chiron …" I said tearfully. "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp—"

Chiron cut me off and didn't answer my question. Instead, he said urgently, "Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger. Swear upon the River Styx."

Chiron had a look in his eyes that I hadn't seen often in his eyes before: fear. This had to be serious. If someone swore upon the River Styx, that person couldn't break the pact or he or she would be severely punished. Of course I'd do my best to protect Percy. But the River Styx... Swearing upon it was big. I had never done it before.

"I-I swear it upon the River Styx," I stuttered. Thunder boomed outside.

"Very well," Chiron looked a bit more pacified. He adjusted a more upbeat tone in his voice. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I will go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved … one way or another."

This was it. Chiron... He was really leaving. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't imagine camp without Chiron, someone who helped me train, took care of me, and listened to me ever since I was little. Tears welled in my eyes and I stifled a sob. Chiron patted my shoulder and said, "There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. We must hope … well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."

"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" Percy demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"

Tantalus again... The name sounded familiar, and I definitely wasn't getting a good vibe from it.

The conch horn bellowed through the valley, signaling dinner. But right now, I, with tears streaming down my face, wasn't very hungry.

"Go. You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!" Chiron warned.

And before we had a chance to ask Chiron what he meant, he turned and clopped down the halls. Watching him become smaller and smaller before disappearing, I remembered all he had done for me, and more tears dripped down my face.

Tyson cried after Chiron, "Pony! Don't go!"

When Chiron didn't obey Tyson, Tyson burst into tears as well. I stiffened. Why was _he _crying? Who did he think he was? Sure, my thoughts were childish and petulant, but Tyson didn't even know Chiron.

"I-It'll be okay, guys," Percy said half-heartedly. "Things will be okay."

But judging by his tone, it seemed like even Percy himself didn't believe in what he was saying. I tried to push the nagging voice saying, _No, they won't, _out of my head, but I couldn't. How could I believe that? Everything was falling to pieces and hope seemed to be a small light far from our reach.

As my gaze lingered on the spot Chiron had disappeared from, my tears splattered to the ground and I wondered what we were going to do now.

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><p><em>AN: PJOBookWorm: Right now, I'm kind of functioning on only four hours of sleep, so that's good, yeah? Anyway, now that fanfiction's deciding to make a ton of upgrades, we can add a book cover to this story. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to make the book cover? We're open to hear your ideas! _

_Carameltootsieroll: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed chapter 6! It was kinda emotional, wasn't it? Tell us what you think of it! Please don't forget to click that review button! :)_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: carameltootsieroll: Hey guys! Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. But here it is! Chapter 7. Don't forget to click the review button! _

_Disclaimer: We don't not not not not own the PJO series/characters._

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><p><span>The Quest for the Golden Fleece<span>

Chapter 7

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><p>As we walked to the dining pavilion, I sniffed and wiped away my tears, trying to compose myself. It was dinnertime, after all, and I couldn't lead my cabin while bawling. The sun started to set and the campers started filing towards the dining pavilion in lines.<p>

Wiping away one more stray tear, I turned to Percy and said, "I-I'll talk to you later, okay?" He nodded and I walked towards my siblings.

"Annabeth!" Shirley exclaimed as I approached. "You're back!"

I forced a smile and nodded. Looking at my siblings, I realized how grim they were, too, even if they were wearing fake smiles.

"What happened while I was gone?" I asked.

The smiles melted off of my siblings' faces and they looked at each other.

"A lot," Malcolm sighed. "Camp's really different now, as you can probably tell. It started when Thalia's pine tree was poisoned."

"And now that Chiron's gone, Tantalus is replacing him," Shirley said, then whispered, "Oh, gods, Tantalus is _horrible._"

I knew he couldn't be good. "What did he do?" I asked.

"Do you not remember who Tantalus is? What he did?" Malcolm asked.

I paused, thinking, searching around my mind for that name. Tantalus... Gods, it was _him_. The king of Sipylos. He was supposed to be in the Underworld, condemned to stand in a pool of water filled up to his chin but not be able to drink, and stand under a tree filled with fruits but not be able to eat.

What did he do to deserve that punishment? He used to be favored by the gods, actually, and they invited him over to dine. There, he stole nectar and ambrosia and snuck it back to the mortal world. When the gods found out, they banished him from Olympus.

Tantalus was furious and, in a plot of revenge, offered that the gods come to his place for a feast. As for the food? He cut his son Pelops up, boiled him, then offered him to the gods to eat. The gods knew that something was wrong with the food and didn't eat it, except for Demeter, who ate a small part of Pelops' shoulder because she was still moping over the loss of Persephone. The gods eventually brought Pelops back to life and sentenced Tantalus to the Underworld for cannibalism and infanticide.

Tantalus was no way fit for a job as a camp counselor. What were the gods thinking?

"_Him? _Why?" I cried, horrified.

"He needed more punishment, I guess," Shirley said.

This made me miss Chiron even more, even though he had only left not more than five minutes ago. Why would they bring Tantalus to camp, knowing what he did, but send away Chiron just because of his father, when obviously Chiron was innocent? Thinking about Tantalus, I cringed, but led my cabin towards the dining pavilion and our table.

After our cabin came, the Ares cabin arrived, with Clarisse up front. Her arm was in a cast and her cheek had a gash, but she held her head high, still strong, even with a _YOU MOO, GIRL! _sign taped to her back. It seemed that no one decided to tell her about it, not even her siblings. That's what you got when your siblings feared or disliked you. I mean, if someone taped a sign to my back, my siblings would tell me... Right?

Then came the Hephaestus cabin, led by Charles Beckendorf. Beckendorf—no one ever called him by his first name—was an African American teenager of fifteen years. From the outside, he looked a bit intimidating, but he was really a nice and brave person. He could make almost anything, being a true son of Hephaestus.

After the Hephaestus cabin came the Demeter cabin with Katie Gardner in the front. Katie Gardner was a brown-haired girl with green eyes who could grow basically any plant. She could lecture anyone and almost always stuck to the rules. She was a really nice girl, but if someone got on her bad side, then... They should watch out.

Then the Aphrodite cabin filed in, led by Silena Beauregard, the nicest of the Aphrodite girls, but that didn't necessarily mean she wasn't obsessed with makeup or love. Silena was another hopeless romantic and always tried to convince me to let her give me a makeover, which I obviously never agreed to. But unlike the other Aphrodite girls, Silena didn't just toil over her makeup all day. She could fight and was a great Pegasus rider.

And then the Apollo cabin and Dionysus cabin came into the pavilion, followed by the nature creatures: dryads, naiads, and satyrs. Seeing the satyrs reminded me of Grover, and I played through the conversation in which Percy told me about his dream. A monster had chased Grover. Grover was in trouble. We had to help. Fiddling with my camp necklace nervously, my thoughts became muddled as disasters piled on top of each other, presenting problems that had to be fixed. I had to remember to ask Percy more about his dreams.

After the satyrs came the biggest cabin, the Hermes cabin, led by Connor and Travis Stoll in replace of Luke, who had left camp as a traitor. Connor and Travis looked extremely alike with their messy brown hair and same mischievous smiles. They caused trouble everywhere, always either stealing things or playing pranks. But they were surreptitious and probably only got punished for one out of every ten things they did.

After the last of the Hermes cabin walked into the dining pavilion, Percy led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Heads turned at the sight of Tyson and forks clattered to the plates. The pavilion became eerily quiet as all eyes focused on the Cyclops.

"Who invited that?" an Apollo kid asked.

Percy glared at the Apollo table and I cringed. Mr. D, the camp director and the god Dionysus, eyed Percy with a smirk, his blotchy tomato face brightening evilly. A trembling satyr handed Mr. D a grape, and Mr. D popped it into his mouth, then rubbed his Hawaiian shirt covering his bulging stomach. Next to him sat an extremely skinny, haggard-looking man wearing an orange prison uniform and looking like he had been living in the wild with no food for all his life. Tantalus. He looked livid. I didn't know if it was because he was stuck at camp, he couldn't eat, he saw Percy, or he saw Tyson.

"Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete," Mr. D smirked.

Percy narrowed his eyes and looked like he was trying not to hit Mr. D on the head right then and there. "Percy Jackson...sir," he forced himself to add in a tone that showed he didn't think the word "sir" fit Mr. D at all.

Mr. D rolled his eyes, giving an I-couldn't-care-less look. He drank his Diet Coke, then said, "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever." He turned to Tantalus and said, "This boy, you need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."

"Ah! That one," Tantalus cackled in a knowing tone. He smirked malevolently at Percy and sneered, "I am Tantalus. On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" Percy asked, outraged.

Smirking, Mr. D snapped his fingers and a newspaper appeared on the table. I sat up straighter and raised my head, straining my eyes to look at the newspaper. It was the New York Post, and on the front page, I could make out a picture of Percy. I inferred the article was about the, uh, _minor _mess we made in Meriwether. So that had already gotten out? That wasn't good. Percy just had a natural talent for getting on the news.

"Yes, trouble," Tantalus cackled, nodding. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."

Percy glared at Tantalus, his face red with anger. It seemed like he wanted to retort, but was too busy fuming. _He _caused trouble? _He _was the one who fixed the trouble!

A satyr nervously advanced towards Tantalus, clutching a plate of barbecue. He placed it in front of Tantalus and scurried away, as if afraid of not only Tantalus, but the food, too. Tantalus glanced at the food with delight, licking his lips. He looked at his cup, said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967", and the glass filled itself with the drink.

But... Tantalus couldn't eat or drink anything. It didn't matter if he was in the Underworld or not. He couldn't eat the barbecue or drink the root beer, could he?

Tantalus hesitantly reached out for the glass, his hand wavering, signaling that he still couldn't consume anything. Why did he even bother trying?

"Go on, then, old fellow. Perhaps now it will work." Mr. D said, as if he were eager to see the food and drink do a jig.

Tantalus nodded and quickly shot out his hand to snatch the cup, but it slid away from him so quickly that some of the root beer spilled. Tantalus tried to touch the drops of root beer, but they tumbled away. Growling, he turned to his plate of barbecue and picked up his fork, aiming it at the brisket with a murderous glint in his eyes. He brought his fork down to spear the brisket, but the whole plate ran away from Tantalus and sped into the bronze brazier. Tantalus made a sour face and threw down his fork angrily.

"Blast!" he muttered.

Mr. D tried to hide a snicker and said sarcastically, "Ah, well. Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

Did Mr. D just bring Tantalus to camp for his own amusement? Did he need Tantalus for dinner entertainment? I had to admit, it was a bit entertaining watching food come to life.

"Eventually," Tantalus grumbled as he stared longingly at Mr. D's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?" Was that a prompt to try to get Mr. D to pour the Diet Coke down Tantalus' throat?

A look of realization crossed Percy's face. "You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," he exclaimed. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

Tantalus sneered at Percy as if he couldn't be any slower. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"

"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive. What was it?"

Oh, Percy, when will you learn to keep your mouth shut? And was that an impressed tone in Percy's voice? I had to talk to him about what was a good accomplishment and what was not.

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said with a pointed glare. "I don't want any problems at my camp."

_His _camp? _His camp? _I doubted he had been at camp for more than a week. Since when was it _his _camp?

"Your camp has problems already...sir," Percy said, as if adding the word "sir" would make Tantalus less angry.

Dionysus yawned and drawled lazily, "Oh, go sit down, Johnson. I believe that table over there is yours—the one where no one else ever wants to sit."

That wasn't necessarily true... And it wasn't like I could if I wanted to. The half-bloods had to sit at their own cabins' tables.

Percy grew red in the face and he clenched his fists, glaring at Mr. D. "Come on, Tyson."

"Oh, no. The monster stays here," Tantalus sneered. "We must decide what to do with it."

"Him," Percy corrected angrily. "His name is Tyson."

Tantalus arched an eyebrow.

"Tyson saved the camp," Percy said. "He pounded those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would've burned down this whole place."

It _was _true...

"Yes, and what a pity that would've been," Tantalus said, sighing dramatically. Mr. D snickered next to him. I narrowed my eyes at them. Less than one week at camp and Tantalus was already acting like he owned the place.

"Leave us while we decide this creature's fate," Tantalus demanded, glaring at Tyson.

Tyson looked panicked, his large eye welling with tears.

"I'll be right over here, big guy," Percy said. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight." But Percy sounded like he had when he told us things would be okay—unconvincing, but still trying to put on a semblance of optimism. How would Tantalus and Mr. D allow a Cyclops to stay at camp? Camp was named Camp _Half-Blood _for a reason, and it didn't help that Tyson was a monster.

Tyson didn't seem to hear the small doubt in Percy's voice and said, "I believe you. You are my friend."

Percy nodded, trying to put on a brave face, but I could see guilt in his eyes, though apparently Tyson couldn't. Percy walked towards his table with his head down, and as the nymphs brought food to the tables, chatter slowly resumed.

My siblings and I walked over to the brazier, and I tossed in some food as an offering to the gods. "Athena, accept my offering." _I need to help camp. _As the food landed in the brazier, I caught the smell of olives.

We walked back to the table and sat down, digging into our pizzas, which had pepperoni and olives as toppings. (Hopefully, the olives would catch Athena's attention...)

Malcolm poked at his slice of pizza. "Pepperoni?" he asked, scrunching up his nose.

"How can you not like pepperoni?" Andy asked. He reached out and snatched the pizza out of Malcolm's hands. "I'll eat it, thank you."

"Hey!" Malcolm protested, reaching out for his pizza.

Shirley sighed. "You're not a very powerful second-in-command, Malcolm. You should work on that."

"All right, Andy," I commanded, "you can just take off the pepperoni on the pizza, I guess, but give the rest back to Malcolm."

I hoped it wasn't just _my_ half-siblings who were weird.

"Camp is in trouble," Olivia said, "and you're sitting, arguing over pizza?"

"Thank you, Olivia," I said.

Malcolm and Andy immediately stopped squabbling.

"You're right," Malcolm sighed. "We have to think of a plan to help. Athena always has a plan."

"How long will border patrol last?" Andy asked. "People keep getting injured. The monsters really are vicious."

"At this rate," I murmured, "camp won't be able to last much longer. We need to figure out a way to get Thalia's pine tree healed. Or better protection. But Chiron said that..." I trailed off, running through the conversation with Chiron in my head. Chiron had said that it was long lost...but if we could just find it...

Then, the conch blew, and I looked at the head table to see a satyr nervously fingering the conch shell. It seemed Tantalus thought it was below himself to blow air into a shell.

The talking seized and Tantalus clasped his hands, saying, "Yes, well, another fine meal! Or so I am told." He kept his eyes on the campers as he tried to furtively creep his hand forward towards his still full plate, hoping the food wouldn't notice. But once his hand got within six inches of the plate, the plate zoomed off down the table.

Tantalus made a sour face while Mr. D tried to snort subtly (the operative word being "tried").

"And here on my first day of authority," Tantalus continued, as if nothing had happened and the food hadn't run away from him again, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Um... I supposed centuries of not eating made people absolutely desperate for anything.

Mr. D looked gleeful that he had finally found someone who could understand his torture and entertain him at the same time, and he clapped. He turned around and glared at the satyrs, and they raised their hands and started clapping quietly, shifting around and looking anywhere but at Tantalus and Mr. D.

"And," Tantalus said with a wicked smile as he reached out and pulled back towards the table an uncomfortable-looking Tyson trying to creep away, "now some changes! We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

What?! The chariot races? Was I hearing him right? Murmurs broke out around the pavilion. I exchanged wide-eyed looks with my siblings. The last time a chariot race happened at camp was three years ago. I looked down at my camp necklace and found that my hand had subconsciously drifted up to clutch the fourth bead: a simple chariot. The symbol was small, yet it held many memories that wouldn't be forgotten. Judging by the panic and disbelief traveling around the pavilion, the other campers who were here at that time hadn't forgotten, either.

"Now, I know that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems," Tantalus said.

Technical problems? More like—

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," an Apollo kid shouted. Exactly.

"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said excitedly, restraining himself from clapping his hands. Did he want to see all the campers die so he wouldn't have to be stuck at camp anymore? "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

Did he say no chores? No chores at all? For a month? That incentive seemed to cause people who were wary of the races to throw away their previous concerns.

"Awesome!" Andy exclaimed. "We have to win this!"

But it seemed a bit suspicious, not just because of the potential danger. Since when was Tantalus generous?

"I don't know," Malcolm said. "I mean, no chores would be great, but don't you think there's something off about this? And remember how dangerous the last race was."

Andy shook his head. "I wasn't at camp yet, remember? How bad was it?"

Malcolm shook his head. "I think that was the second year I was at camp. I was just a kid—heck, Annabeth was even smaller. We didn't compete in it, but what happened was nothing kids our age should've had to see. It was horrible. All those campers—our siblings, our friends—were injured so badly that—"

Just then, Clarisse stood up, wringing her hands, looking nervous. Was she protesting? I thought Clarisse would love the chance to pulverize campers without needing an excuse. "But sir! What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots—"

_That's _what was wrong. I couldn't believe Clarisse had seen that while I hadn't. How could we protect camp from the monsters if no one had time to patrol?

But Tantalus cut off her argument. "Ah, the hero of the day! Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

Wha—_excuse me_? Clarisse was a good fighter, but that was hardly single-handedly. Besides her ten warriors, she had help from Percy, me, and... Tyson.

Clarisse looked shocked that she was receiving praise and actually tried to correct Tantalus. "Um, I didn't—"

"And modest, too." Tantalus beamed, as if Clarisse were his daughter and he couldn't be more proud. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree—" Clarisse protested. Thalia's pine tree couldn't protect camp from monsters anymore.

Tantalus ignored Clarisse. As if he cared about camp. Clarisse's siblings shoved her down into her seat, apparently desperate for a month of no chores. At least _Clarisse _had her priorities straight.

"And now, before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here," Tantalus said, sticking his stick of a finger out at Tyson.

Hey! In my defense, we needed him to defeat the bulls. I cringed, not exactly eager for my name to be associated with a Cyclops.

My siblings looked at Tyson, then back at me, knowing my aversion to Cyclops. I mean, whenever I saw a picture of one, I couldn't exactly hide my feelings well.

"Um, Annabeth, don't you—" Shirley started saying.

"We needed him to fight off the bulls!" I defended.

Tantalus gained back the campers' attentions. "Now, of course, Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes' cabin, possibly?"

All attention shifted towards the Hermes table, which was already packed as it was. Travis and Connor started studying their fingers and exclaiming over the patterns on the plain, single-colored tablecloth. The Hermes cabin was jammed full of demigods, including the ones who hadn't been claimed, and I doubted they wanted an extremely large monster thrown in with them. I was silently hoping Tantalus wouldn't ask the Athena cabin.

Tantalus smirked at the silence. "Come now. The monster may be able to do some menial chores," he sneered. "Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

Tantalus' smirk grew wider as no one piped up, but suddenly, all attention shifted away from him and to Tyson. Gasps spread throughout the pavilion.

There, above Tyson's head, was a glowing symbol. A spinning green trident. The symbol of Poseidon. Meaning... Poseidon had claimed Tyson as his son. My suspicions were right. Poseidon had fostered another Cyclops with a nymph. But Tyson got claimed _that _quickly? I didn't even expect Poseidon to claim him! I thought Tyson would've just gotten thrown out.

Tantalus nearly fell of his chair in shock, and Percy stared, stunned, as he gaped at his father's symbol glowing over Tyson's head.

"Well! I think we know where to put the beast now," Tantalus cackled, getting over his shock. "By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

He howled with laughter and the campers did the same. I glared at my reluctant, nervously chuckling siblings, and they stopped their fake laughter. That was hardly fair. Percy definitely did _not _look like a monster. First of all, he had two green eyes, not one brown eye.

Tyson didn't notice the laughter and instead tried to catch the trident in his hands, but obviously failed. No matter how obtuse he was, though, that wouldn't stop him from leaving Camp Half-Blood now that he'd been claimed.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, suddenly overcome with a headache. So now a Cyclops was staying at a camp for demigods. Great. For the first time in all my years at camp, I didn't feel much like singing at the campfire.

* * *

><p><em>AN: PJOBookWorm: And that's chapter seven! Hope you liked it! Has anyone been watching the Olympics? The Closing Ceremony is tomorrow! Is anyone excited for The Demigod Diaries coming out on the 14th? There's Percabeth in there, after so long! Anyway, please leave a review, tell us what you liked, what you didn't like, and hopefully we'll update soon! _

_carameltootsieroll: Hey guys! I hope you all liked this chapter! Please don't forget to review Chapter 7 and tell us what you think of it! On the other hand, it's been raining cats and dogs here in Manila for the past how many days. We're really praying that the weather improves. How are you guys? :)_


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